


Everybody Wants To Rule The World

by shadowwish



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: ADHD Iwaizumi Hajime, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M, Slow Burn, Slytherin Sejioh, will update tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25147078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowwish/pseuds/shadowwish
Summary: Muggleborn Oikawa Tooru was going to prove everyone that he could achieve anything he wanted. He worked hard, tried his best, and then...... burned the world down.or, muggleborn Oikawa Tooru attends hogwarts. no one expected what was bound to happen.
Relationships: Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 63





	1. Friends...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, this is basically an extended version of my experimental-ish one shot “What Do You Seek?”. it’s the first time i've ever posted a fic with actual plot, so please be gentle when roasting me
> 
> i will explain the sorting in the notes at the end, by the way. enjoy the chapter

Oikawa Tooru was eleven years old when he received a letter that proudly announced he was a wizard. He was also eleven when he rode an old train alone, venturing into an unknown world. And he was most definitely that same age when the Sorting Hat howled “Slytherin!” the second it rested on his head.

That letter had thrown him into a whole new world, and those definitely weren’t the only bizarre things he had to live. Not at all.

His first week in the Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry was a flurry of emotions and confusing situation after confusing situation, to the point of making him stop from time to time and wonder why he was suddenly using quills and ink instead of a pen, why didn’t wizards wear jeans and why other people his age were so scary.

***

“What are you doing?” a guy about Oikawa’s age said, looking at the essay he was writing in the common room.

“Nothing.” he managed. No one had spoken to him in a whole week, not even his housemates.

“Yeah, sure,” the guy said, his pretty green eyes scrutinizing Oikawa, “we don’t have homework yet, you know? You’ve been hogging this corner the whole week, working and stuff.”

Wait, he had noticed Oikawa? He was boring and average, unlike the tan boy before him, there was no way he had seen him. Tan Boy straightened and plopped down on the floor in front of him.

“I’m Iwaizumi Hajime,” he said, offering his left hand, “and you are?”

“Oikawa Tooru.” Oikawa said, taking Iwaizumi’s hand.

“Are you going to tell me now what you’re doing?” Oikawa shook his head, but Iwaizumi just shrugged and took a book out of the satchel the former hadn’t noticed until now. 

Oikawa gaped at him and eventually got back to work, looking up from time to time. Weird.

***

The next week passed by, and Iwaizumi kept talking with him, unlike he had predicted at first. Oikawa guessed the other boy would eventually get bored of him constantly studying and being a mess, but he kept him company, pointing something out occasionally in his serious voice.

That made Oikawa wary at first. Why would he want to talk with him? He wasn’t interesting, unlike the other first years in Slytherin, a guy with bushy eyebrows and another with pink hair. They both seemed extremely comfortable in their own skin and joked around together.

“Yo, Iwaizumi!” Eyebrows said one night at the end of their first month. “Do you want to play truth or dare with Hanamaki and I?”

Iwaizumi looked at the duo and then at Oikawa, almost as if considering him.

“Can Oikawa play too?”

“Oh, you mean Mister Hard Worker?” Hanamaki said, “Of course. If he wants to, tho.”

Suddenly, all eyes were on him. Oikawa looked at the mountain of homework for the month he had yet to complete, the list of spells and charms he wanted to practice and all of the textbooks of the grade he had yet to read.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking guiltily at Iwaizumi, “I have too much stuff to do tonight, but you can go ahead.” 

The ‘you don’t need my permission’ was left unsaid but clearly implied.

“You work too much,” Iwaizumi grunted, eyeing the books, “and it’s Friday. I’ve seen you do all of the essays for this next week. Get some rest.”

Unfortunately for Oikawa, Iwaizumi’s tone didn’t allow room for discussion, so he put his things back in his satchel and went to sit with the other three.

He was stiff and uncomfortable at first, but after a while of asking the most trivial things and seeing how Hanamaki and Matsukawa weren’t as intimidating as he had first thought, Oikawa started to relax.

The dares weren’t too scandalous and the truths were like the ones Oikawa had seen in his world. Some additions surprised him, but it seemed like being constantly surprised was some sort of rule at this point.

“Say, Oikawa,” Matsukawa’s lazy smirk sent chills down his spine. “Truth or dare?”

Oikawa thought about it hard. He had always despised doing dares, and the chaotic duo lived up to their name; Iwaizumi had had to eat a bunch of wizard jelly beans and the face he made would haunt Oikawa until the day of his death. But, on the other hand, truths meant he had to answer to whatever Matsukawa asked.

‘Whatever,’ he concluded after staying silent for too long, ‘I can always lie’

“Truth.” Matsukawa and Hanamaki groaned in disappointment.

“You’re a coward.” Hanamaki complained.

“Am not!” He said, obviously busted but still trying to defend his honor.

“Then why aren’t you in Gryffindor?” Matsukawa asked, “And yes, answer to that as your truth. You should be grateful I’m being generous.”

“I don’t know,” Oikawa shrugged half-heartedly, “I didn’t know anything about Hogwarts or the wizarding world before I came here.”

“So you’re a muggleborn.” Hanamaki stated, “Issei is a pureblood and I’m a halfblood, we already knew each other before, tho.”

“What about you, Iwaizumi?” Matsukawa said, poking Iwaizumi in the side, “You’ve barely spoken.”

Iwaizumi scowled and swatted the other’s hand away, huffing.

“Pureblood, thought you would know from the last name.”

“Ah, so you’re from _those_ Iwaizumis, the quidditch players?” Hanamaki said, and Iwaizumi nodded solemnly.

“Yeah, my parents want me to at least try it out, I’m lucky they don’t want to push me around like my grandparents.”

“Lucky indeed,” Matsukawa said, “my parents want me to work in the ministry, just like them and most of my family.”

Oikawa stopped paying attention to the conversation and looked around. He clearly wasn’t invited to talk with all of the wizard lingo they were using and the pureblood rich family problems Iwaizumi and Matsukawa had to endure.

However, he snapped out of it when he heard his name being called.

“What do your parents work as?” Hanamaki said, after making sure he was listening.

“A —ah, well, you see, my mom is an engineer and my dad a college professor.”

“Cool,” Hanamaki hummed, ignoring Iwaizumi and Matsukawa’s confused faces, “what does your father teach?”

“Archeology.” Oikawa breathed out, relieved Hanamaki understood what he was talking about.

“My mom, who’s a muggle, studied anthropology. I think that’s why she adapted so easily to the wizarding world. She once told me that the differences between muggles and wizards are fascinating, and she has written a couple of books about it.”

After a few beats of silence, Matsukawa muttered “what the hell is an engineer” to no one in particular, and Oikawa laughed out loud. Maybe he should have spoken to them before. 

***

Two months after that first truth or dare session, Matsukawa and Hanamaki started talking with them a lot more. They went from two vastly different friend groups (if Iwaizumi could be considered his friend those first weeks) to a tightly-knit squad. 

Oikawa soon felt more confident with them. Matsukawa was laid back and liked to poke fun at people with Hanamaki, both of them being incredibly cunning and resourceful. Iwaizumi was grumpy, but made sure his friends were doing okay and would constantly tell Oikawa to stop overworking himself with his studies. 

He did learn to relax and take breaks from time to time (after lots of nagging from Iwaizumi and many sleepless nights), but Oikawa still had to be the best and try the hardest he could. 

It was painfully obvious how he was one of the few muggleborns in Slytherin and the only one in first year, of course he had to be the best and show everyone that he could do it.

However, his essays were soon the most researched of the grade, his homework the best done, his tests the ones with the highest marks, and his wandwork the neatest. He was still silent in class and didn’t flaunt his good grades around, Oikawa knew his classmates wouldn’t appreciate it.

But, despite that, he didn’t mingle with people from other houses. Not because he was a ‘Slytherin snob’ or a ‘pureblood supremacist’, as he had heard when rumors eventually started. It’s just that he wasn’t confident. (It also bothered him how people immedately assumed he was a pureblood just because he was a "good Slytherin" or whatever that meant.) Everything he did would be judged, now that he was a “star student”, and nothing scared him more than being a disappointment. 

That is, though, until someone else talked to him.

Kuroo Tetsurou, a Ravenclaw first year, asked him if he could help him with something when he was doing homework in the library with Makki and Mattsun. 

Of course, he thought it was a joke at first, as Kuroo was constantly being praised for his work by teachers, but it turns out that he couldn’t find the answer to something and ‘no one except a Slytherin with good grades could surpass a dedicated Ravenclaw’, quoting him.

He helped him, and Kuroo eventually started talking with Makki and Mattsun, joking around and sharing stories. They were a dangerous mix, and Oikawa regretted accepting when the librarian told them to lower their voice. 

At least he now had a new acquaintance, and learned that Ravenclaws weren’t as uptight as he had initially thought.

Oikawa eventually ended up talking with Kuroo during the classes they shared. The boy was provocative as well as intellectual and observant, and that brought out Oikawa’s competitive side. They had a healthy rivalry, if it could even be called that. 

They competed to see who got their houses more points, who had better grades or finished homework faster. It was refreshing, because that kind of dynamic wouldn’t be possible with his housemates, and at the same time it allowed him to meet new people, like Sawamura and Bokuto from Gryffindor. Oikawa was grateful Kuroo had reached out to him.

It was thanks to his new friends that he got to be himself. Because there had been so many changes at first and he was busy trying to adapt and work as hard as humanly possible, Oikawa hadn’t noticed that he was too quiet, or that he didn’t whine as much as he used to back home. When he did, however. Well, you could say he had a mini existential crisis.

The day it happened, Kuroo was complaining to Iwaizumi and him about how the last potions class had been hard when Oikawa slipped into what his mother had dubbed ‘little shit Tooru mode’. To be honest, that was just his regular personality.

“I mean, if instead of sleeping on the book to get that terrible hairstyle you actually paid attention, that wouldn’t have happened,” Kuroo’s steps faltered and Iwaizumi gave him a weird look. “What? It’s true.”

“Bloody Merlin’s underpants,” Kuroo cackled after recovering from the blow, clutching his sides as he doubled over and wheezed, “I _knew_ you had a bad side.”

“What do you mean?” Oikawa said, looking at him try to breathe.

“Ah, mate, it’s just that I thought it was weird that you were good at school and still be a kid without a bad side.” Kuroo sighed, wiping invisible tears away. Dramatic asshole.

Oikawa frowned indignantly and looked at Iwaizumi, who was chuckling and didn’t even try to refute Kuroo, much to Oikawa’s dismay. Friends were supposed to defend each other’s honor, dammit.

“Iwa-chan, don't laugh at that!” He wasn’t sure where the nickname had come from, but Oikawa had been calling Iwaizumi like that for quite a while. “You’re my friend, don’t agree with him.”

“It’s just that you aren’t so mean normally, Oikawa,” Iwaizumi said, “a whiny kid? Yes, but it’s the first time I hear you say something like that. Should I ask myself if you haven’t been abducted by those aliens of yours?”

“Iwa-chan, you shouldn't say stuff like that, if I were to be abducted, you would miss me terribly.” Iwaizumi grunted and Kuroo piped up.

“Well, Oikawa, I don’t want to feed that ego, but it would be nice if you were more open. It’ll be weird to talk with a non-shitty Oikawa now that I know you have a personality.”

“Kuroo, rude!” Oikawa yelled at him as the Ravenclaw left and waved at them, pretending not to hear him. “Iwa-chan, remind me why we keep him around, please?”

“He’s a pain in the ass but he’s a good friend,” Iwaizumi sighed, quoting the Oikawa from two weeks ago.

“Right.” Oikawa nodded. “But we should get going, Iwa-chan, we’re going to be late.”

And thus, Iwaizumi and Oikawa walked towards their next shared class with Gryffindor. Oikawa wondered where Makki and Mattsun could possibly be after they left for their free period, because they often spent the breaks together, fooling around on Hogwarts’ grounds.

“Kuroo is right, you know?” Iwaizumi said out of nowhere.

“With what?” They both waited for the staircase to align with their floor.

“It’s weird not seeing you be so bold with people.”

“Well,” Oikawa shrugged, “it’s not like I can help it. I’m not confident in being so open with other people in new places.”

“You know you don’t have to be open, right?” Iwaizumi stated, as if it were obvious, “And this isn’t a new place anymore. We’ve been in Hogwarts for almost six months.”

“No, Iwa-chan, you’ve been in Hogwarts for almost six months, I’ve been in Hogwarts and the wizarding world for almost six months.”

Iwaizumi grunted after being silent for a moment and nodded briefly.

“Yeah, you’re right. I forget that you’re muggleborn.” They turned the last corner before arriving at the corridor their potions class took place in. “But seriously, you really should try to talk to people. Believe it or not, some people think you may be nice.”

“Wow, Iwa-chan, if you weren’t the one that talked first to me, I wouldn’t believe it myself.” Oikawa dodged Iwaizumi’s fist. “See what I’m talking about? You break my heart, Iwa-chan. So mean.”

“Shut up, Trashykawa,” Iwaizumi growled, “Matsukawa and Hanamaki are already in class and Professor Nekomata will come in no time.”

“Aaaaw, look at you being responsible and worrying about getting to class on time,” Oikawa snickered, taking advantage of his long legs and speeding up, “Makki and Mattsun would die if you turn out to be a nerd like me.”

“Makki and Mattsun would die if I turn out to be like you at all,” he said, rolling his eyes and stepping into the classroom, “you were so shy and quiet at first, what happened to you, seriously?”

“Friendship happened to me. Makki and Mattsun are bad influences, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa replied just when professor Nekomata walked in and started to talk about what they were going to do that day, cutting off whatever Iwaizumi was about to reply.

Half an hour later, Iwaizumi almost burnt his eyebrows off when a potion went wrong, and Oikawa had to stifle his laughter to avoid being killed by his friend. He still received a whack on the head, though, so it’s not like it did much.

***

Despite the first impression Oikawa had of the school his first week, it wasn’t too different from what he was used to. Well, maybe not what the classes taught, but _how_ they taught it. The spells belonged to Oikawa’s childhood fantasy books and daydreams, where he was some sort of super powerful wizard that took over the world.

Except, in his daydreams Oikawa didn’t have to work his ass off to be the top student of his grade, or measure fruit bat snot for basic potions, but hey. Magic is magic, no matter how unglamorous young him would consider it.

Like everyone else, Oikawa had his own personal class ranking, from best to worst. He absolutely adored astronomy and flying lessons. He didn’t really enjoy other classes, such as herbology or charms, but still survived the lectures. However, the only thing most students could agree on is their thoughts on the history of magic class.

He was currently jotting down some notes during history of magic, but they consisted more of random words with some dates he overheard from time to time and lots of question marks. The professor (whose name he may or may not have forgotten at some point) read the book out loud during an entire hour, so it’s not like he could just study from the book later. Someone should sue their professor for that, even Oikawa had fallen asleep a couple of times when he had stayed up too late working. (Not that he would ever admit that, his pride existed for a reason.)

Unfortunately, despite Hanamaki and Matsukawa trying to talk with him during the most boring periods of the class, Oikawa was too scared of the consequences if he was caught. Even though he wouldn’t, because the teacher just read and read and read infinitely during the whole time, and either chose to ignore the students’ chatter or was just too absorbed in the lecture to notice it.

The class kept going, and Oikawa looked around when he couldn’t bear the boredom. Sitting at his right, Iwaizumi was napping on unused parchment, and from the looks of it, he hadn’t even bothered to open his ink bottle. Oikawa smiled a bit and made sure he wasn’t drooling or anything, so the parchment wasn’t damaged.

Hanamaki and Matsukawa, however, were very much awake, to Oikawa’s chagrin. They had kept trying to incorporate him in their conversations at first, but after lots of insistence on their side and silence from Oikawa’s, they stopped. But they still kept talking with obnoxiously loud voices. 

When they were finally allowed to go, Hanamaki woke Iwaizumi up (because he didn’t even take his book out), and they all left the classroom, slouching and ready to rest for a whole century. The masses of students soon thinned down when they made their way to the Slytherin common room, which was still relatively empty.

“That was incredibly boring.” Matsukawa yawned as they walked to their dormitories.

Hanamaki didn’t even bother to look at his homework before reaching for his comfortable clothes and changing haphazardly, complaining about how he had so much to do and how little he wanted to work.

“Well, perhaps our great friend Oikawa could give us a hand,” Matsukawa suggested, giving him puppy eyes.

“Makki, Mattsun, you’re both my friends,” Oikawa said, calmly discarding his robe and stepping out of his shoes, “but you’re also annoying assholes that have laughed at me for doing homework that wasn’t due soon. So no, go cry to Iwa-chan.”

“Iwaizumi? Please?” Hanamaki all but pleaded, looking desperate, “Help us out, man.”

“Yeah, sure,” Iwaizumi grumbled with a sarcastic voice, carrying his books and parchment to the common room, “I have stuff to do too, and I’ve been telling you to get to work this whole week.”

“Sorry, mom,” Matsukawa called out, “guess we will have to do it on our own, Takahiro.”

“Don’t worry, guys, I’m sure you will survive this,” Oikawa said, taking a couple of his favorite books and following Iwaizumi.

The common room was soon filled with the scratching of quills writing, the occasional book pages being flipped and Hanamaki’s desperate sighs. Oikawa lazed around the whole time, enjoying the silence and reading like he hadn't in a long time. 

Iwaizumi was the first one to finish his homework, and when he did, he moved from the spot he had chosen to the couch Oikawa was laying on.

“Move.” Iwaizumi nudged Oikawa’s torso with his knee.

He sat up straight, choosing to lean on Iwaizumi instead of the armrest because it was more comfortable and he felt like pissing his friend off. Except Iwaizumi just shifted a bit to accommodate his weight better without even looking up from his astronomy textbook. The small gesture baffled Oikawa, who thought he would be rejected or even hit as a warning. Who would have thought Iwaizumi would indulge him? Definitely not him.

An hour passed, and nothing special happened, but then Matsukawa groaned out of nowhere and banged his head on the table. Oikawa realized he was on the same page he had been staring at for a while and decided to help him.

But not after laughing at him for a bit.

“What’s wrong, Mattsun?” he cooed, “Is your homework being tough?”

“Fuck off, Oikawa.” Matsukawa's voice was muffled by the book, but everyone could hear the tiredness of it.

“Don’t worry, I can help you,” he said, leaving Iwaizumi’s side and sitting next to his troubled friend, “what are you struggling with?”

“The transfiguration essay, I can’t find the translation for all of these.” As Matsukawa pointed at the different characters, Oikawa reached for his own essay and got to work side by side with him, getting the homework done in no time.

He eventually helped Hanamaki too, and both of them were done with their assignments just before supper, so Hanamaki and Matsukawa thanked him profusely, apologizing for their bullying (as Oikawa called it) and promised to get to work the next time Iwaizumi told them to.

When they got to the Great Hall, the first years dined in relative silence, eager to slip under the covers of their beds and get some well-deserved rest after working hard, or just working, in Oikawa’s case. 

Iwaizumi and him ate moderately, careful not to overindulge in the sweet desserts, while Hanamaki and Matsukawa stuffed themselves with food.

“You two will explode one of these days if you keep eating like that,” Iwaizumi warned, only to be dismissed by them.

“Makki, Mattsun, as much as it pains me to admit this,” Oikawa said, “Iwa-chan is right. And we wouldn’t want our friends to explode, would we, Iwa-chan?”

“Shut up, asshole.” Iwaizumi’s plate still had some milk bread, and Oikawa didn’t hesitate to steal part of it. “And don’t touch my food.”

“Iwa-chaaan,” Oikawa whined, making his voice as annoying as possible, “there’s no need to be so aggressive and insult me.”

“You two just don’t know how to appreciate good food,” Matsukawa said before wolfing down an entire steak in record time, “and of course there’s need to be rude to you, Oikawa. You’re a brat.”

Hanamaki almost choked on his pumpkin juice, and after a while of coughing and Matsukawa patting him in the back, he laughed loudly, which resulted in both Iwaizumi and Matsukawa joining him. And because his friends’ laughter was so infectious, Oikawa eventually cracked a smile and snickered at Hanamaki’s ugly laugh.

The scene was so ridiculously different from what Oikawa had imagined when he rode that old train alone that he couldn’t help the smile that he wore from the hall to their room. (Despite Hanamaki’s cruel teasing.)

‘If this is how the next years are going to be,’ Oikawa thought later that night, when the dormitory was engulfed in darkness, ‘I’m glad I was sorted into Slytherin.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i basically made sejioh all be in slytherin to make it easier for me, to be honest. but, before you boo at me, there are other reasons
> 
> as oikawa mentioned, matsukawa and Hanamaki are cunning and resourceful when it comes to trolling other people and bullying oikawa
> 
> iwaizumi is more of a hufflepuff, in my opinion, but he does have this strong fraternity with his team, and he’s ambitious, wanting to go to the nationals and saying it several times. there might be other things, tho. who knows
> 
> anyways, kuroo is more of a slytherclaw, but then again. plot.
> 
> i hope the note isn’t too long, and let me know if i messed up at some point. kudos and comments are highly appreciated. i’m open to feedback and anything you’d like to tell me


	2. ... and foes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa's first year in Hogwarts is coming to an end, and his summer isn't as peaceful as he had looked forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, i’m Back At It Again with the fic
> 
> please, note that this chapter, as much as it hurt me to write, contains the f-slur (f*g) twice and homophobia, but don’t worry, it isn’t perpetuated by any character of the actual show
> 
> i’m sorry if that hinders your enjoyment of the chapter, i’m not planning to write that word anytime soon
> 
> with that being said, enjoy

Besides having fantastic housemates, one of the many reasons why Oikawa Tooru was delighted to be a Slytherin is that he could stay away from certain people. Certain people being, of course, Ushijima Wakatoshi. The guy was infuriating on his own (constantly boasting about how he would be the best auror ever), and during his first months at school, everyone would talk about how _good_ Ushijima was and how his family was full of strong wizards. But that didn’t stop there. Oh no, it didn’t.

At the end of Oikawa’s first year in Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, the guy (a Gryffindor, at that) crossed the entire Great Hall from the Gryffindor table to the Slytherin one, stood in front of Oikawa without speaking for _an entire minute_ and then was stupid enough to say:

“Oikawa Tooru… your grades are excellent. We could use someone as proficient in academic matters as you. You should have been sorted in Gryffindor.”

He didn’t have anything against Gryffindors, you see. Bokuto Koutarou was obnoxious, but he still got along with the Slytherins and was often seen meddling with Kuroo. Sawamura Daichi was a fun sparring partner for when professor Ukai asked them to mix with other houses. But the fact that Ushijima had the nerve to say that, in front of the whole Slytherin house, really irked him.

Of course, Matsukawa and Iwaizumi, who were sitting in front of Oikawa, could see the way he gripped his fork so hard it almost snapped in half, and Hanamaki felt the way he tensed.

“The Sorting Hat is rarely mistaken,” Oikawa said, gritting his teeth and trying to be patient, “maybe you would like to inform that to Headmaster Ukai Senior?”

Ushijima stood there, looking kind of confused until he nodded once and went back to the Gryffindor table, probably confusing the fuck out everyone that had seen their exchange.

“I swear to fucking God,” Oikawa cursed viciously once the other was gone, “that if he fucking dares to say that again I’m going to shove his shitty wand up his ugly ass. If he wanted his house points to improve, he could fucking study or do extra work”

“Who would have thought that our star student has such a foul mouth?” Matsukawa said, trying his best to drown his laughter.

“Mattsun, Makki, I’m giving you five seconds to stop laughing or I’ll use you for the next transfiguration class.” Oikawa threatened, feeling his mood worsen by the second.

But Hanamaki and Matsukawa didn’t listen to him, and Iwaizumi had to hit the latter in the head when he kept laughing.

“Hey, he told you to stop that.” Iwaizumi frowned deeply and directed a scowl at Hanamaki, who stopped on his own. 

“Sorry, mom,” Hanamaki said, “it’s just that Ushijima’s face after Oikawa told him to piss off was hilarious. I almost started laughing while he was here.” 

“Why does it bother you anyway?” Matsukawa asked Oikawa, munching on some apple pie.

Oikawa wanted to deflect the question. He wanted to lie and say something else other than the truth, but he had to think of something quickly and he didn’t have time for it. Plus, lying was hard for him. He had always been a brutally honest kid, and he knew the others would pick up on it.

Of course, ‘I don’t want to tell you.’ was definitely discarded. He was talking to his friends, he was supposed to trust them. 

But he couldn’t tell them about how hard it had been for him to be in a completely unknown world, with absolutely no friends or connections, making friends and finding out that ‘hey, maybe I _am_ a Slytherin and not some sort of sorry excuse for wizard’. He couldn’t. They wouldn’t understand where he was coming from and laugh at him.

Or worse, stop being his friends.

So he waited.

After the silence stretched out to an uncomfortable extent, Iwaizumi sighed and rolled his eyes, telling Matsukawa to shut up and leave him be. Oikawa thanked him silently.

***

The last week of first grade was bittersweet. 

Oikawa had made his friends promise him that they would hang out together during the break, because they didn’t live too far away, and to communicate through letters. He suspected he would miss them terribly, now that they were such a close group.

They ended up passing all of their exams (Oikawa’s grades being the best of the first years, of course) and tried to use their time in the Hogwarts express as a way to celebrate it. Hanamaki bought enough creampuffs to feed an entire legion, and Matsukawa stuffed his face with as many chocolate frogs as he could. (Not that Oikawa would ever admit this, but they still freaked him out. Seriously, how could someone eat something that tries to run away from you?)

Iwaizumi and him, on the other hand, stayed away from eating too much, at least at first. Neither of them had very big appetites, and their departure looming over their heads didn’t help with that.

“So, Oikawa,” Matsukawa called after trying to clean the corners of his mouth, “what do you usually do during summer?”

“Well, my parents and I used to go back to Japan to visit my family and stuff, but since my grandmother died, we usually stay home.”

“You’re Japanese?” Iwaizumi said, raising an eyebrow.

“I am,” Oikawa said, confused, “wait, does that mean you aren’t Japanese?” The other three shook their heads, confusing him even more. “Then, why do you call each other by your last names? And what about your names?”

“Our parents are Japanese,” Matsukawa said, “there are wizards and witches all over the world, as you might have probably noticed by now. My parents met Takahiro’s when we were young.”

“Most of the school is either Japanese or has Japanese origins, tho.” Hanamaki frowned. “I thought you knew, Oikawa.”

“Yeah, sure,” Iwaizumi said, rolling his eyes, “fucker has been more worried busting his ass off working.”

Oikawa yelped indignantly and whined about having such bad luck with friends, which he didn’t mean at all. He knew Iwaizumi was just too stubborn to admit that he cared about him like a normal person.

They spent the rest of the trip chatting and making plans for the summer break while snacking. (Because, apparently, letters took longer to deliver than Oikawa thought and no one had phones in the wizarding world.)

When the train arrived at the station, Oikawa was suddenly hit with the weight of reality. He would have to say goodbye to his friends. He probably wouldn’t talk to them face to face in a long while. He didn’t know how to feel about that, but it definitely wasn’t good.

***

Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s parents were the first ones to find the group in the station. Makki and Mattsun introduced their new friends, and the adults were thrilled when they heard that Iwaizumi was part of a lineage of highly successful quidditch players.

But when Oikawa was introduced, things went very differently. In a good way.

“Ma, dad,” Mattsun said, pointing at him, “this is Oikawa Tooru.”

“Hello, dear,” Mattsun’s mother said, “I’m afraid I can’t recall if I’ve heard your last name before, are your parents purebloods?”

“No, ma’am,” he said, trying his best to smile, “I’m afraid I’m muggleborn.”

“Don’t be.” Mattsun’s father said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, son.”

“Likewise, Matsukawa-san.”

“You’re Japanese?” Makki’s father said, smiling widely.

“Yes, sir.” Oikawa almost cowered at the eye contact, but when the man nodded with enthusiasm, he relaxed a bit. The man reminded him of an innocent Hanamaki.

They spent a little while talking, Matsukawa and Hanamaki talking about the other two to their parents, who were eager to know more about them. It was a nice conversation, and the adults were genuinely impressed when Iwaizumi said Oikawa had the best marks in the whole grade. (Oikawa might have blushed a bit at that.)

  
  


“I’m sorry I have to be that person,” Makki’s mother said after they chatted for a while, “but I’m afraid we ought to leave soon to get home before the sun sets.”

“It’s no problem, Hanamaki-san.” Iwaizumi said, cutting off Hanamaki’s pleads to stay longer.

They all then bid their goodbyes, and, with promises of keeping in touch, their friends left. The station was bizarrely empty, and Oikawa could swear he heard his friends’ stepping when they crossed the wall.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa called after a moment of silence.

“Yeah?”

“Where are your parents?” Iwaizumi huffed at that and started following the other’s steps without giving any explanations. “Iwa-chan, don’t ignore me!”

Iwaizumi stopped dead on his tracks right in front of the column, and Oikawa almost crashed with him. Iwaizumi’s ears were a light red that Oikawa didn’t notice, and his voice had an ever-so slight wobbling to it.

“I asked them to wait outside so they could help your parents.” Oikawa gaped at him, and before he could say anything, Iwaizumi was already on the other side of the station.

Oikawa decided to step through before the access closed, and the first thing he saw when his eyes adapted to the light was his parents speaking with Iwaizumi. Next to his friend were two people. 

‘His parents.’ Oikawa realized, upon seeing them up closer.

When Oikawa faced them, he was shocked to see how similar they looked to Iwaizumi: his mother had black hair and bronze skin, and his father had green eyes and Iwaizumi’s nose.

When Oikawa’s mother saw him, she beamed and told him to ‘hurry up son, we missed you!’. And so he did.

He was soon sandwiched between her arms, who had zero shame in being affectionate with him. He heard Iwaizumi laugh, and suddenly remembered where he was.

“ _Mom,_ ” he said in Japanese, “ _let me go, please._ ”

“Sorry, Tooru.” his mother replied, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

“We already know your friend Iwaizumi-kun,” his father said, voice awfully cold, “introduce yourself to his parents.”

Oikawa wanted to talk back and tell him that he was about to, but he instead bit his tongue and smiled tersely at Iwaizumi’s parents before bowing at his waist, just as he did back in Japan. 

“I’m Oikawa Tooru, sir, ma’am.” Iwaizumi’s father hummed and offered his left hand, just like his son had done several months prior.

“So you’re Hajime’s new friend.” Oikawa looked at the youngest Iwaizumi, who groaned and hid his face. “I’m glad I finally got to meet you.”

“Thank you, Iwaizumi-san.”

Iwaizumi’s mother introduced herself, and the adults soon were all involved in a casual conversation, their children promptly ignored while they talked about boring things.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whispered as he leaned on his friend’s shoulder, “what houses did your parents go to?”

“My family has always been sorted into either Slytherin or Hufflepuff. My mom was a Hufflepuff and my father a Slytherin,” he whispered back, “I kind of expected to be in Hufflepuff.”

“I see. You _do_ work hard and are loyal to your friends.” Oikawa had a fleeting thought that made him smile mischievously. “Did you choose to go to Slytherin, then?”

“Yeah.” Iwaizumi said, practically a huff, and turned his head. This time, Oikawa noticed the light blush dusting his cheeks.

“Ooooh,” Oikawa cooed, draping himself on his friend and forgetting where they were, “did someone make Iwa-chan want to go to Slytherin?”

Iwaizumi grumbled something under his breath, so low that Oikawa barely made out half a word. He was about to ask him to repeat it when he saw the adults and the realization that they could have seen him hit him like a punch to the gut.

He straightened and took a couple of steps to stay away from Iwaizumi, just in case. Oikawa felt the questioning look in his friend's eyes, but he pretended he didn’t see it, acting as natural as he could.

The conversation between their parents soon died down, and they exchanged addresses. Oikawa waved at Iwaizumi after parting their paths and saying their goodbyes, just because he could, and because he would miss him.

***

When they got to their car, Oikawa’s father insisted on him being the one to load the trunk, so his mother had no option but to call dibs on driving. It was a weirdly familiar scene, and Oikawa felt an underlying sense of belonging, despite how things had been before school.

Oikawa knew his mother wanted to ask him about how everything had been and fill in the details he had to leave out in the letters they exchanged, but something about the way his father closed the car’s trunk told both of them talking was a bad idea.

The ride started off in complete silence and an unbearable tension surrounding them. However, that didn’t last really long. Of course it didn’t.

“Tooru.” Oikawa panicked, tensing on his seat, “What did you do in the station with Hajime-kun?”

“Nothing,” he said, trying to keep his voice stable, “I just clung to him a bit.”

“And what do I say in this house about being touchy with other men?” His father asked, craning his head and pinning him down with his angry stare.

“I won’t touch other guys other than for a handshake.” Oikawa’s eyes looked for support in his mother, but the poor woman was too busy driving in the dark to intervene so soon.

“Exactly. Now, what do you think Hajime-kun thinks about you, Tooru?”

Oikawa tried to reply, but he couldn’t. The look in his father’s face was terrifying, and he couldn’t help the tears that rolled down his cheeks. That seemed to further infuriate his father, who frowned deeply.

“ _Say it._ ” He hissed in Japanese.

“He thin— he thinks that I’m a disgusting fag.” Oikawa’s voice broke in the last word, and he couldn’t stop hiccupping, no matter how hard he tried to calm down.

“Exactly. Now, do you think he will want to hang out with you?” Oikawa was about to reply when his mother’s hard voice interrupted his father.

“That’s enough, Hirotoshi,” she said, “you don’t know the other boy’s upbringing. Plus, his parents didn’t seem upset, there’s no need to reprimand Tooru for that.”

His father scowled and gave Tooru one last warning look before turning back around. Oikawa would gladly grovel before his mother and thank her until his throat went raw when she saved him from his father (which was most of the time), but he knew she would just apologize to him and maybe even cry with him.

His father was one of the most homophobic people Oikawa had ever met. Of course, he only knew that after coming out. He never spoke about being against gay people and used to treat Tooru and his mother as the most precious things in the entire world. But when he said that he liked a boy his last grade before Hogwarts, that changed radically.

At first, he tried to persuade him that it was a phase, but when his mother (after voicing her support with a big smile) confronted him about it, he said that he ‘didn’t want his son to be a fag, are you crazy, Emiko?’. He soon started to be more and more distant, trying to avoid his son as much as he could.

When he left for a business trip, Tooru confessed that he wasn’t sure about liking just boys or girls, that his father frightened him when he started to say that no one would like him and that sometimes he wished she hadn’t married him.

His mother (his sweet, loving mother) made sure that he knew he could trust her, she wouldn’t judge him and would always want the best for her only child. And Oikawa did.

***

Tooru’s room was just as he had left it before leaving for Hogwarts. 

Every book on his shelf was neatly arranged, the mint green curtains draped close and the white walls covered with various space-related posters. His bed was neatly made and the closets closed. It almost felt impersonal.

He opened the window first to let the air and sunlight come in, making the room less stuffy. Then, he dropped his suitcase on the bed and zipped it open, pulling everything out. Still shaken from crying in the car, he decided to send his friends the letter he had promised the next morning. It would be worrying if his ever-impeccable handwriting were wobbly or tears stained the paper.

Of course, he didn’t want his friends to know. They would judge him, and they would tell other people and _oh God, Tooru would be an outcast even at school._

‘Calm down,’ he told himself before he could panic even further, ‘calm down or you will worry mom. You know dad is right anyway, so why would you cry about it? You just have to hide it. It’s not that hard.’

He kept repeating that last sentence to himself like a mantra, closing his eyes to calm down and focus on his breathing. It was a few minutes later that he felt better and his mind had stopped reeling, so he opened his eyes and started to put everything in place he made sure his wand was in a safe place, everything made of glass had a place where nothing could damage them and his books were hidden from the muggle eye.

His robes were the last thing he put away. He stared at the crest for a little too long, the embroidered snake seeming almost real the more he looked at it. Tooru could still recall Iwaizumi’s words perfectly. He had chosen to go to Slytherin over Hufflepuff, despite knowing that he fit better there. Iwaizumi had chosen someone over his house.

Who could be that person? Who had made his friend change such an important thing for his time at school?

‘Well. More like what _girl_ has made Iwaizumi change houses,’ Tooru thought bitterly, the reminder that he was probably the only gay guy in Hogwarts making him ache in a weird way.

Sighing loudly, he finished organizing everything and flopped on his bed, trying to get some sleep before dinner. His last coherent thought was wondering why Iwaizumi liking someone bothered him so much.

***

Tooru spent the whole summer practically itching to practice his magic. But he couldn’t, not able to cast a spell or two even in his friends’ houses because ‘magic out of Hogwarts is strictly forbidden’, for some stupid reason.

Unlike he had feared, his friends didn’t reject him. Of course, his rational side knew that they didn’t know about it, and his father wasn’t there to tell them anything. He felt relief, even if it was stupid.

Their letters were like extracts of their verbal conversations: they greeted each other like they used to during their school year, and their vocabulary felt familiar. Their jabs and banter, the way they expressed themselves on paper and how easy-going the whole thing felt was almost enough to make him cry out of pure joy.

So, when the meetings were arranged and everyone had talked with (or begged, in his case) their parents, he counted down the days until he could get a moment of peace again.

***

When he saw Iwaizumi’s house, his jaw almost touched the floor. Before leaving Hogwarts, they had agreed to go to Iwaizumi’s place first, because it was the biggest house. 

And boy, were they right.

Iwaizumi and his parents lived in a five-story house with a huge garden surrounding it. It was, in fact, so big that the backyard was a literal quidditch pitch. Oikawa should have expected it, to be fair, because the Iwaizumis were all pro quidditch players, but it was still shocking. When he was told that his friends were rich, he didn’t expect them to be _that_ rich.

His parents greeted the other adults and let him go with his friends after bowing a couple of times, just to be respectful. Apparently, Hanamaki was already upstairs with Iwaizumi, and Matsukawa had yet to come.

If it wasn’t for his friends’ loud voices upstairs, Oikawa would have been utterly lost. The house had long, winding corridors, dozens of doors and grandiose staircases. He hadn’t seen a house so big in his entire life. Not even his primary school was so colossal.

Oikawa got lost on his way to Iwaizumi’s room, and he was rescued by Matsukawa, who arrived in the meantime. They eventually managed to spot the room the other two were in, and after knocking on the door, he was greeted by Hanamaki throwing something at him.

“What took you so long, Oikawa?” he said, giving him a lazy smile.

“Iwa-chan’s corridors took me so long,” he whined, the friendly banter almost foreign after a month of being at home, “why is your house so _big_ , Iwa-chan? I almost get lost in the way!”

“It’s not my fault, Shittykawa. You should have asked my parents for the directions.” Iwaizumi was sitting on his bed and a book on his lap, back propped up against the headboard and legs stretched out. He looked ridiculously small in his queen-sized bed.

“Don’t be an ass, Iwaizumi,” Matsukawa said from behind Oikawa, stepping into the room like he owned the place, “I might enjoy torturing our little whiny friend over here, but your house is indeed huge, even for rich standards.”

“Fuck off.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and got up, looking for something. “Hey Hanamaki, have you seen my chess set?”

“Chess set… I think you put it on your bookshelf before Oikawa started whining.”

“Ah, right. There it is.” Iwaizumi pulled out a velvet bag and a chessboard. 

“We’re going to play chess?” Oikawa said, raising an eyebrow and laying on the floor face down, “That’s kinda lame.”

“That’s because you’ve only played muggle chess,” Hanamaki smirked, “wizard’s chess is way more interesting.”

“Sure,” Oikawa scoffed.

Turns out Hanamaki was right, and Oikawa enjoyed immensely when he won his second time, Matsukawa’s king being literally destroyed by his pawn. They got to play a couple of times each, but because it soon got dark, Iwaizumi proposed a couple of rounds of questions before they all had to leave.

“Okay, because Iwa-chan is the one that proposed it, he’s the one that asks first.”

“Yeah, sure,” Iwaizumi said, sitting in front of him, Hanamaki and Matsukawa in between both of them, “any volunteers to go first?”

The three of them shook their heads, and Iwaizumi smiled darkly. Oikawa sort of feared for his life.

“Okay… Hanamaki, what’s your most embarrassing memory?”

Hanamaki groaned loudly, and Matsukawa laughed at him.

The questions kept going, and they had to go on a couple of impromptu trips to the bathroom from time to time. Everyone’s cheeks and abdomen hurt after a while, and Oikawa was sure their throats were sore from roaring with laughter as well.

Turns out Matsukawa once shoved a marker up his nose, and when Iwaizumi was little he broke both arms because he wanted to catch a bug that was on a tree. Oikawa had to confess he once pranked his parents, making them think he couldn’t speak anymore, only to end up losing his voice for a week.

Unfortunately, the meeting came to an end when Oikawa’s father said they needed to get going because driving in the dark was dangerous. Of course, his friends tried to buy some time, but he knew that it wasn’t worth it, so he simply bid them goodbye and left without kicking a fuss. They all promised each other to hang out more, and that was it.

Despite the break being with his friends meant, when he stepped into the car and his father started driving, he felt the tension again. Ever since his first day of summer break, there was this uneasy atmosphere that surrounded his parents, and thus, himself.

He knew his mother had confronted his father about his homophobia and called him out, but Tooru knew it wouldn’t do anything. He wasn’t going to change anytime soon, but a small part of himself wished to be proven wrong, no matter how desperate that sounded. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, oikawa’s father is an absolute dick, and yes, i loathed writing him. i'm not entirely sure about how the dynamic ended up, but that won’t be a problem for next chapter
> 
> if y'all manged to get the gusari subtle reference, tell me. i need people to yell about their work with 
> 
> kudos and comments give me life and motivate me a ton, they’re highly appreciated. if you have any feedback, questions or i made some mistake, feel free to comment


	3. Disastrous.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second year wasn’t meant to be hard, but the universe had something else in mind for Oikawa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s 2.13 am. I’ve been going to sleep at 5.30 am or more this whole week. what is english? i don’t know. 
> 
> anyways, enjoy the chapter

Summer break was almost over, and to say Oikawa was more than eager to hop back on the Hogwarts Express was an understatement. Despite hanging out, Oikawa had missed his friends immensely, and the tension at home was unbearable.

After an impressive amount of planning through letters, Oikawa and the rest of first years decided to go fetch their books together, so he talked it out with his mother. She agreed to go to Diagon Alley with him and that made him immensely happy, because he got to be alone with her for a while. 

The day before, both Tooru and his mother set their alarms earlier than usual. The news had warned about the hot weather, and it definitely showed, even during the night. Tooru tossed and turned in bed for a while, and when he woke up, his throat was parched.

Of course, he whined about that with his mother, both of them bemoaning their lack of AC at ten in the morning.

Despite how quiet the past days had been, his mother was being oddly silent, which made Tooru overthink everything and anything he had said in the past week, but he didn’t find anything that could have upset his mother.

He pushed that issue aside for the rest of the morning, because he had been waiting for this very meeting in particular, for some reason. Maybe because he wanted to explore more than he could last year. Maybe because he just missed his friends more than he had anticipated.

When they were in the car, his mom drove in silence, the music of the radio softly filling the silence of the atmosphere, and Tooru looked at her from the passenger’s seat. 

She had his brown hair and eye shape, but to be fair, he resembled his father more, with his light skin and brown eyes and swishy bangs. Tooru never really cared about who he looked like, but after these torturous months, he wished he saw someone else in the mirror.

Someone with darker skin and black eyes, maybe. Someone who looked like his only supportive parent. Or someone with darker skin and black eyes that fancied girls.

Tooru tried to stop that train of thought, but it was easier said than done, now that the music sounded more like white noise and the lack of his mother’s words was starting to be oppressive.

Before he could do anything, though, his mother parked the car and turned the radio off.

“Tooru,” she said, voice uncharacteristically tense, “I know this is the worst timing ever, but it’s important and I wanted to talk about it with you.”

“What’s wrong, mom?” The car’s engine stopped. It was so hot, and Tooru felt sweat trickle down his back. His mother sighed and looked at him.

“I’m planning to divorce your father.” Tooru’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to retort, but his mother was faster, holding a hand up. “Please, don’t freak out, I know what you’re thinking about, but I’ve already spoken with my boss, and your father would pay child support.”

“Mom, what— why would you do that?” He spluttered, “You’ve never argued, and he loves you.”

“Ever since he saw you interact with Iwaizumi-kun, he has been cruel to you. Besides his homophobia, he has also tried to say that Iwaizumi-kun should be careful around you.” She tightened the steering wheel in her hands and looked to the front. “I refuse to be married to a man that hates his son just because he likes something other than what he wanted.”

Tooru felt his eyes well with tears. His mother was willing to cut ties with the man she had loved her entire life because he was treating him badly. That moment he realized how incredibly lucky he was. 

But.

“Mom, wait, don’t you think it’s too soon?” He said, sniffing a bit and wiping away the tears, “I’ve heard that most times, people just need time to accept it.”

His mother shook her head and put a hand on his knee, thumb running up and down his skin in a soothing way.

“I don’t want to upset you, but you haven’t seen the way he spoke about you while you were away and told me about your friends in your letters,” she sighed, a pained expression settling in her face, “I eventually stopped showing them to him, because I couldn’t stand it. After you came over for Christmas, he told me about a friend he had when he was young that turned out to be gay.”

Tooru could imagine how the rest of the story went, and he couldn’t help the tears that escaped him. It was just too much. He had looked up to his father his whole life, he had always seen him as a caregiver, a _protector_ and now he was probably disgusted by him.

“Why does he hate us?” He whimpered, wiping the tears away furiously, “Did I ever do something wrong, mom?”

“Absolutely not, Tooru. _Look at me,_ ” she said in Japanese, and held his face, “ _you haven’t done anything wrong. You’re just a boy that happens to like boys. And what about it? You don’t harm anyone with it, and as long as you’re safe and happy, that’s all it matters to me_.”

Tooru nodded slowly, and his mother pulled him into a half hug. She cleaned the tear stains in his cheekbones and smiled softly, though it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Good thing we decided to leave early, huh?” Tooru couldn’t help a little chuckle and nodded slightly before looking for tissues and cleaning up.

Both of them waited a couple of minutes, trying to chat about unimportant things to distract him. When his eyes weren’t red anymore, he told his mother he was ready to see his friends, or at least wait for them out of the car.

Iwaizumi was the first one to come to the meeting place.

They had chosen to wait by the bus stop next to the Leaky Cauldron, and his friend looked so out of place it made him smile a bit. Iwaizumi’s parents wore their clothes almost as if they had just stepped out of an old fashion magazine, and their son looked more… up to date. He wore a simple dark grey hoodie with jeans and sneakers, but the way they moved with those clothes on was comical.

They reminded Oikawa of penguins.

“Hey, Iwa-chan,” he greeted when Iwaizumi approached him, after talking a bit to his parents. He was sort of stiff and Oikawa laughed when he saw the discomfort in Iwaizumi’s eyes. 

“Oikawa, how the hell do you wear these clothes without ripping them off? They’re so stupidly tight.” Iwaizumi’s face screamed ‘help me’, but Oikawa ignored that.

“Well, Iwa-chan, I’m used to them, but it’s not too different from the uniform.” He touched Iwaizumi’s soft sweater. “Do pureblood wizards really wear robes most of the time?”

“Yeah, but some others are starting to wear more muggle-like clothes.” Iwaizumi poked Oikawa’s shirt. “And the uniform is like that because, apparently, someone thought it was a good way to unite clothes from muggles and wizards for the student’s sake.”

Oikawa hummed and poked Iwaizumi back. Soon, instead of having a conversation, they were in the middle of a heated poking contest, and Iwaizumi told Oikawa about the stores they would have to visit. 

“Didn’t you buy your stuff here last year, anyways?” The contest stopped when he poked Iwaizumi with a little too much force and yelped, squirming away.

“Yeah, but we asked other people for help. There was this really tall guy that gave us the names of the stores we should go to buy stuff, and we were lucky the store dependents weren’t against muggles or anything.”

Iwaizumi got revenge and tickled him briefly before letting Oikawa poke him again, this time in the cheek.

“Iwa-chan, have you eaten properly this summer?” He said, looking at how his friend was definitely thinner and may have grown a bit, “You’re lanky now.”

Iwaizumi huffed and crossed his arms, frowning a bit. He looked at Oikawa from head to toe and probably noticed how his friend had, in fact, grown almost five centimeters during the past months. 

“You’re thinner, too, Shittykawa.” Iwaizumi poked him in the ribs. “And taller. If you end up taller than me, I’m punching you.”

Oikawa gasped dramatically and poked his friend’s forehead before whining a bit and stop poking him, shuffling around to look for the rest of their friends.

“Matsukawa is always late, and Hanamaki will get here in no time,” Iwaizumi said, practically reading his mind, “my parents decided to get here early in case something happened.”

“Or Iwa-chan wanted to see me and have me for himself for a while,” Oikawa teased, an innocent smile gracing his lips.

“Yeah, sure.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and ignored him, but Oikawa saw how he tapped his foot incessantly. 

Realizing there wasn’t much to talk about at that moment, Oikawa decided to look around for a bit and hum a song he had discovered that summer.

The streets were relatively empty for a late August morning, although it wasn’t a really popular part of the city and everyone seemed to go to the more commercial areas of the neighborhood. Looking back at his mother and Iwaizumi’s parents, he saw that they were chatting about wands and magic stuff. His mother was smiling softly, nodding along to what the other two said, and would often ask a question or two.

She was more relaxed without his father, Oikawa noticed. Whenever his father had been with his friends’ parents, his mother barely spoke, and her posture was unnaturally rigid, almost as if she were waiting to apologize and run away.

‘Maybe she knows more about dad than I.’ He thought, only to conclude that _of course her mother would know more about his father than him._

Part of that thought process must have shown in his face, because he was suddenly bonked on the head. He turned around, only to see Iwaizumi scowling at him.

“Whatever you are thinking about, stop it right now,” he grumbled tugging at his hoodie’s sleeve, “you look ugly with that face.”

Oikawa stood there, gaping at him and probably looking stupid. He was about to answer, but the familiar voice of Hanamaki greeting them cut him off, and distracted Iwaizumi. At least momentarily.

They all talked and caught up with other things while waiting for Matsukawa to come, and when he finally did, they were left to their own devices and the obligation to be by the meeting point in two hours and a half. Oikawa promised to call his mother with his phone if anything happened, which awed everyone except Hanamaki and his mother. 

Diagon Alley was bustling, students from Hogwarts and adult wizards were doing their own thing, going in and out of stores, chatting and looking for the next store to visit. The contrast from the muggle world and the wizarding one would never fail to shock Oikawa.

He proposed going to get their textbooks at Flourish and Blotts first, and so they did. They all got everything in no time and stumbled across Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koushi, a Hufflepuff Oikawa was barely acquainted with. Sugawara was a nice guy, sort of refreshing, compared to his friend’s dynamics, but they didn’t get to talk a lot. 

After walking around for a while and goofing around, they stepped into Eeylops Owl Emporium, quills and parchment in their satchels. Iwaizumi led the group, and mumbled something about pets before walking towards the cages

This was the first time Oikawa visited something remotely close to a pet shop, so when he saw the owls, he had to repress his desire to coo and pet every single owl he could put his hands on. It was hard, but he resisted the while Iwaizumi spent choosing the species he wanted and spoke with the assistants in the dimly lit store.

About half an hour later, the four of them stepped out carrying their things and helping Iwaizumi with the owl’s cage. 

“What the hell, man, your parents let you buy an owl by yourself?” Hanamaki said, looking at the animal.

“Yeah, I've talked about it with them and they’re fine with it,” Iwaizumi shrugged, “they also researched with me and asked an acquaintance that has had a couple of owls as well.”

“I wish my parents let me have an owl, but they will just accept a cat,” Matsukawa complained.

Oikawa didn’t listen to his friends, being more focused on the owl. It was incredibly fluffy, and he wanted to pet the owl’s beak, which was covered with soft-looking feathers. Oikawa was endeared with the way the owl looked around. It was so cute. 

“Have you chosen a name for it?” He said out of nowhere, probably cutting someone off. 

“Her,” Iwaizumi corrected, “and not yet, I wanted to choose it with all of you.”

“I’ve never seen an owl so close.” Oikawa breathed out, almost longing to reach out and cuddle the animal.

“You do look quite impressed,” Matsukawa said, readjusting his satchel, “have you thought about having pets yourself?”

“When I was little, I used to beg my parents to let me have a cat,” he said, and nearly crashed into a hurried witch, “but my father is allergic to the fur. Guess I won’t worry about it soon, though.”

“I see,” Matsukawa replied, just before Hanamaki asked what he meant with the last part.

Oikawa waved Hanamaki off, making up some bullshit excuse for his friends, and ignored the weird look Iwaizumi gave him.

***

Coming back to Hogwarts wasn’t as nerve-wracking as the first time, but he was still excited about it.

His mother promised to keep him updated through letters, swearing she would deck his father if it was necessary to have full custody over him. Oikawa teared up and thanked her effusively before getting his stuff from his room and hopping on the car.

Of course, ever since his mother told him the news, he noticed she had kept him away from his father as often as possible. Oikawa thought he had probably noticed, but highly doubted he cared anymore. As soon as he came out, he wanted nothing to do with him.

“Earth to Oikawa!” He heard out of nowhere, and snapped out of it. He looked at his friends, whose faces all had different levels of both exasperation and amusement.

“Hey, look, it worked.” Matsukawa pointed out. 

Hanamaki was sitting next to Oikawa, and wore a shit-eating grin. So it was him who had destroyed his tympanum. Fucker. Iwaizumi and Matsukawa were both across them, and Iwaizumi was giving him the weird look again, a question in his eyes.

“We were going to ask you what name you liked for Iwaizumi’s owl,” Hanamaki said, “but when we looked at you, you didn’t answer.”

“A name for Iwa-chan’s owl…” he mused, “I’d say either Caramel or Athena.”

“I like both.” Iwaizumi said, munching on something. Had the Honeydukes Express already been in their cabin?

“While I get Caramel, why would you choose Athena too?” Matsukawa said.

“Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom and war,” Hanamaki replied, “I like both too.”

“You know about Greek mythology too, Makki?” Oikawa said, pleasantly surprised when he nodded. 

“Well, I suppose it’s up to me to decide, then.” Matsukawa then stayed silent for a while and squinted, looking at the owl perched on Iwaizumi’s shoulder. “Athena sounds more intimidating, and it matches our friend right here.”

“Is that a compliment?” Iwaizumi frowned and stroked Athena’s head.

“Of course it’s a compliment, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa exclaimed heatedly, “You’re the most intimidating of us, even though Mattsun is taller than you.”

“Yeah, sure, but the next time you insult my height, I’m punching you.” Iwaizumi threatened.

“Don’t harm our nerd, Iwaizumi,” Hanamaki said, “we need him for homework and exams.”

Matsukawa and Iwaizumi laughed at that, while Oikawa grumbled about how his friends didn’t appreciate him. It was nice to be back. 

***

Second year was practically the same as first year, but this time everyone fell into a routine more easily. Oikawa started to be more social, and would occasionally help other people from other houses out, trying his best to be likable. (Iwaizumi liked to tease him and say that probably wasn’t working, but they all knew it was a lie.)

And, with the new course, there were more people sorted into Slytherin. This time, they were just three boys: Yahaba Shigeru, Kyoutani Kentarou and Watari Shinji.

Matsukawa and Hanamaki practically adopted the latter when he introduced himself, and Oikawa himself took a liking to Yahaba. Iwaizumi, however, was forced to take Kyoutani under his wing when the boy saw him scold Oikawa mercilessly, ending the reprimand with a whack to the head.

They all wanted to be closer with the first years than his seniors had been with them, and they made sure to make them feel included. Well, at least Oikawa tried to make all of them included, but Kyoutani refused to listen to him.

He would often complain about that, and Hanamaki and Matsukawa would laugh at him, teasing his whiny voice. Iwaizumi, on the other hand, would roll his eyes whenever he exaggerated, but overall would just look at him intensely, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Iwaizumi did that a lot recently, now that Oikawa thought about it. Instead of annoying him, he would be quiet and chime in once or twice. Whenever Oikawa said something self-deprecating, Iwaizumi would give him a weird glance, almost as if he were solving a puzzle.

It was curious, the way Oikawa felt how some of those questioning looks should fluster him. But when he thought about it, he had to remind himself that Iwaizumi was just taking care of his friend, nothing else.

It was also curious how disappointed he felt about that.

***

His mother kept him updated about the divorce through letters, as she had promised.

Apparently, his father hadn’t been opposed to the idea of giving his mother full custody, and a part of Oikawa felt hurt when he read that, alone in the common room late at night. But it’s not like he could help it, his father gave him up when he came out, and it wasn’t like it was going to change anytime soon. 

He was thankful his mother was such a determined person, and didn’t hate him just for existing.

Oikawa also told his mother about school, now more than ever that he could tell she would be alone when reading his letters.

Joining the quidditch team and keeping up with his impeccable grades was already hard, and Oikawa made it brutal on himself, but he didn’t regret a thing. Iwaizumi and him were both accepted immediately, and that meant they were fairly popular, not only in Slytherin. Second years were rarely in the initial lineup of the games.

Iwaizumi was a beater, as everyone had predicted. He had strong arms and a surprising upper body strength. Aiming was hard for him at first, but after training whenever he could with Oikawa, he got the hang of it. Everyone could agree he had inherited the quidditch genes.

However, Oikawa being a seeker was something not many people had considered.

Yes, seekers had to be able to fly faster than the wind and have outstanding eyesight, but he had tried out for it and he got the position. There was some sort of weird stereotype surrounding seekers that they were scrawny and weirdly excitable, like that Gryffindor first year.

He was going to prove all of them wrong, and help Slytherin win every match he played. All of the hours spent training to the brink of exhaustion were going to pay off when he got the chance to play.

***

Because his grades had been excellent in first year, the rest of the house decided that he would help the new kids with the hard things, or whenever they struggled with something. That, of course, inflated his ego (which was increasing, according to Hanamaki and Matsukawa, much to Iwaizumi’s dismay).

And, as he had promised, Oikawa would often help the first years with things that were hard for them, and eventually learned a couple of things about them.

Yahaba, for example, was a showoff. He only practiced the hardest spells when there were people around. Kyoutani scowled less when he focused on something (which reminded Oikawa of Iwaizumi), and Watari had a habit of dipping his quill twice before getting back to writing.

The problem is that this new responsibility, no matter how much he enjoyed spending time with the underclassmen, put even more pressure on him.

Quidditch practices were hard for him, being the only seeker after their seventh year one had a bad injury, and doing his own coursework was tedious, as he only accepted perfection. If it hadn’t been for the way his housemates had looked at him that day, he would have admitted he needed help.

But the expectation in their eyes was too much to bear.

So, putting up a half-smile that convinced the others, he agreed, and promised to treat their “youngsters” right, patting Kyoutani’s head. (Thing that made him almost lose his hand, as the boy practically bit him, if he didn’t have fast reflexes.)

Of course, Iwaizumi saw right through his bullshit, but he only raised an eyebrow and told him he could ask for help whenever he needed it, not without flicking him in the forehead.

One of Oikawa’s flaws, however, is that he didn’t know how to ask for help.

Later in the course, around the end of the first term, he fell asleep in the common room while doing next week’s astronomy essay. This was a rare thing, because even in his first year, Oikawa managed to stop working when he had been too tired

But what was even rarer is that, at three in the morning, Oikawa was shaken awake. Quite violently, may he add. 

He looked up, wiping away the drool that had embarrassingly stuck to his chin, and was greeted with the sight of Iwaizumi frowning at him and his arms crossed in an intimidating stance that made Oikawa gulp. He looked angry. And an angry Iwaizumi is bad, let alone tired as well. 

“What the fuck are you doing here, Oikawa?” He said, managing to keep his voice at a reasonable level.

“I was doing my astronomy essay,” Oikawa said, and grimaced at the smudged ink where his face had been. He would have to do it all over.

“Yeah, I can see that.” Iwaizumi’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. “But why aren’t you in bed, where you would be _resting_ without ruining your back, Shittykawa?”

“Iwa-chan, don’t call me that,” Oikawa sighed, way too tired to whine, “it’s just that I was tired, and Watari needed help with a potions essay, so I had to use my homework time to help him. No big deal.”

“Sure. It’s not a big deal, which is why you fell asleep in the common room Merlin knows when.” Iwaizumi flicked Oikawa’s nose. “Tidy everything up and go to sleep.”

Had it been any other circumstance, Oikawa would have teased him, asking him if he was his mom. But right now, the way Iwaizumi looked at him made him feel funny, and he listened.

It must have been a rare sight, because his friend’s face was one of surprise, eyes widened, eyebrows high up his forehead and mouth slightly open. But then again, Oikawa was stubborn as hell, and he killed himself working anytime he could.

“Wait, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa called out, “what are you doing out of bed?”

“I woke up to go to the bathroom and saw you weren’t in bed. I figured what had happened pretty quickly, if you ask me,” he shrugged.

“I’m not sure if I should be offended because you called me predictable,” Oikawa said, following Iwaizumi back to their dorm, “or thank you.”

“You should definitely thank me,” his friend said over the shoulder, “because I’m going to make sure you don’t do stupid shit like that anymore.” 

“What do you mean, Iwa-chan?”

“I mean that I won’t let you stay up late working. You’ve always had good grades, even if you couldn’t study properly for exams, and everyone can see how bad you look right now, Oikawa,” Iwaizumi said, “a couple of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff girls came up to me yesterday to ask about you.”

“Really?” Oikawa perked up at that, not sure if he should be happy or concerned, “What did they say? Why didn’t they ask me?”

Iwaizumi waved his hand slightly and opened the dorm room for him.

“They said that they were worried about you, and they thought you were awesome for having such good grades and being humble,” Iwaizumi whispered, rolling his eyes, “of course, if they knew you, they wouldn’t say that.”

“Iwa-chan, rude!” Oikawa whisper-yelled, nearly falling flat on his face when he took his pants off, like always. He pretended he didn’t hear Iwaizumi’s snickering for the sake of his hurt ego.

“Yeah, sure,” Iwaizumi said from his bed, “just get some sleep, Shittykawa.”

Oikawa finally, _f_ _inally_ put his pajamas on and slipped under the covers, miraculously finding a comfortable position without having to move around too much. 

He exhaled slowly, enjoying the small moment of silence before feeling drowsy. He called out a good night, as he always did, and Iwaizumi didn’t reply. He was probably asleep, and Oikawa soon followed, drifting off to a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked it. this took longer to write than expected, to be honest. i usually finish a chapter in two to three days
> 
> i also planned to make this longer, but i didn’t want to keep y’all waiting
> 
> by the way, athena is a barn owl! i love them with my entire heart, they’re so cute
> 
> kudos and comments are highly appreciated!


	4. Leap.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second year is nearly over. Quidditch, fame, letters and coming out ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo. this chapter took a little bit longer to write because of writers’ block and a moving, i apologize for that
> 
> i also had a lot of fun writing the last part of this chapter, i hope it shows
> 
> because I’m so awkward in the notes at the beginning, i will just let you read without further ado
> 
> enjoy

“And thus,” Professor Nekomata said, demonstrating to them how to execute the last steps of the potion, “your Strengthening Solution is done. Any questions?”

Some people raised their hands, and Professor Nekomata took his time to answer everyone and make sure their doubts were solved.

Iwaizumi, surprisingly, leaned into Oikawa and pointed at something he had scribbled in his book’s margin in Japanese, just to be quicker (and maybe because he couldn’t remember the English word for it).

“What does that say?” He muttered, frowning slightly.

“Ah, it’s just a quick note to remember to look for the perfect amount of days to let it mature,” Oikawa said, voice equally low but not free of his prideful lilt, “I like to mess a bit with potions out of the classroom. They’re fun.”

“Yeah, I noticed you like potions. Almost as much as Astronomy, huh?” Iwaizumi said, teasingly raising an eyebrow and smiling.

“Iwa-chan, how dare you?” Oikawa gasped, scandalized, “Nothing can surpass my love for Astronomy and quidditch.”

Iwaizumi looked like he was about to reply, but their chatter was cut by Bokuto asking rather loudly why the potion needed salamander blood, and if he could substitute it with something else. 

The rest of the class went by rather dully, Oikawa already knowing most of the content. However, that didn’t stop him from listening and writing things down. He couldn’t cut himself too much slack, or his grades would drop. 

And now that Kyoutani was a Slytherin, the rest of them had to be careful with the house points. He wasn’t a bad student, per se, he just lacked motivation and someone had made sure he did his schoolwork. That someone was usually Iwaizumi, and even if it started off almost as an obligation, Iwaizumi had sort of befriended Kyoutani. Almost. Maybe?

Oikawa hummed lowly at the thought, still trying to pay attention despite his way more interesting inner monologue. Kyoutani needed someone stubborn, but Iwaizumi wasn’t the only one. Yahaba, for instance, seemed to have piqued Kyoutani’s attention, which was unexpected. Kyoutani wasn't really friendly with Yahaba at first.

Although why he didn’t respect Oikawa as much as Iwaizumi or Yahaba was beyond his understanding, ever since the incident where Yahaba sent Kyoutani flying against a wall during an argument, he looked at the boy with puppy eyes. Maybe Yahaba had gained himself an admirer. Only time could tell. 

Well. Time, and a dedicated Oikawa Tooru.

Oikawa would have gladly started to scheme and look for ways to obtain more information to work with, but a rough hand made him come back to reality.

“Hey, Oikawa,” Iwaizumi said, waving his free hand in front of Oikawa’s face, “You alright over there?”

“Ah, I’ve never been better, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, rubbing the shoulder Iwaizumi had gripped.

“Yeah, sure, because class ended two minutes ago and you haven’t moved.” Iwaizumi huffed and crossed his arms, looking at him with a weird face.

“Wait, what?!” Oikawa shrieked, “Iwa-chan, we’ve got Charms now!”

“Ah, fuck.” Iwaizumi said, before helping Oikawa pack everything and dart off the corridor.

  
  


***

  
  


“Oikawa,” Kuroo called, “Oikawa, Oikawa, Oikawa, Oika—“

“What?” He hissed, looking up from his assignment, “What do you want, Kuroo?”

“Oh, nothing, it’s just that you look ugly when you’re focusing on something.” Oikawa was about to murder him, but Kuroo held a hand up. “And I need help to revise the content for our next Astronomy exam.”

“Kuroo,” Bokuto whined, “you could have asked me, dude.”

“No, he couldn’t,” Daichi said rather sharply, “you haven’t finished your essay yet, and you promised Akaashi you would get this week’s worth of homework done.”

Bokuto perked up at this Akaashi’s mention but grumbled something under his breath before going back to study.

“Who’s Akaashi?” Oikawa asked.

“He’s a Ravenclaw first year,” Kuroo said, “got into the house with my best friend Kenma, and Bo here seems to be infatuated with him.”

“Akaashi could ask Bokuto to jump off the Astronomy tower and he would,” Daichi said, closing his Charms book, “so he’s the only one that gets Bokuto to work.”

Oikawa whistled lowly at that. He had experienced first-hand how hard it was to get Bokuto to work, because his motivation for something else other than Quidditch was practically nonexistent.

“How did they meet?” He said, neglecting his work for a little while.

“Bokuto likes to alternate sitting in the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables,” Daichi explained, “so when the first years came by, he saw it as an opportunity to make more friends.”

“He said he wanted to know more Ravenclaws because Kai and I aren’t enough and Yaku bullies him,” Kuroo said, ignoring Bokuto telling them to stop pretending he wasn’t there, “so when he saw Fukunaga, Kenma and Akaashi, he talked to them like he had known them their whole lives.”

“Fukunaga?” Oikawa asked once again, “Damn, I need to keep up with the new people, we’re almost done with the year.”

“Well, Fukunaga is really quiet, but he’s great at class, and a really funny guy when you get to know him,” Kuroo said, bragging about his underclassmen like a proud father.

“I guess you’re right,” Oikawa said, “but didn’t you need help with Astronomy?”

“Ah, true,” Kuroo said, and pulled out the book, giving it to Oikawa.

The four of them stayed in the library for the next half an hour, because when Bokuto finished his essay, he decided it would be a good idea to pester Daichi, which amused Oikawa and decided to join in. But before Kuroo could even say a word, Daichi said the curfew was getting closer, so they all went their own separate ways.

Oikawa thought a bit while going back to the Slytherin rooms how nice it was to have more friends. While the other three weren’t as close as Matsukawa, Hanamaki and Iwaizumi, talking with more people and having the opportunity to take a breath of fresh air from time to time was welcome.

Upon getting to the common room, Oikawa closed the door delicately, making sure not to disturb anyone, but he almost dropped his bag when he saw Yahaba and Kyoutani working together in a corner of the common room. 

Kyoutani was writing something down, and Yahaba pointed at a couple of things while talking, probably explaining them. The thing was that Kyoutani stole glances more often than not, and it was so ridiculously obvious that even Oikawa could see it clearly from far away.

To say Oikawa was tempted to do something was an understatement, but he was incredibly tired and didn’t want to deal with Kyoutani. Plus, where’s the fun in that? Watching the events unfold was a thousand times more amusing and entertaining, in his not-so-humble opinion.

So, he kept walking towards his own dorm. He sighed in relief when he saw his bed. His comfortable, warm and soft bed. His comfortable, warm and soft bed that was suspiciously intact, because Hanamaki liked to nap on _other people’s beds_ , for some reason Oikawa would never understand.

Because there was nothing to do and Oikawa was tired, he changed into his fluffy pajamas (and definitely didn’t trip with his own trousers when they got stuck at his ankles). He padded to the bathroom, where he washed his face and brushed his teeth, besides contemplating annoying zits and pimples that were starting to show.

Oikawa then went back to the dorm and slipped under the covers, tossing around a bit until he found the perfect position.

Unfortunately, when Oikawa was on the verge of falling asleep, he heard someone step into the room. Suppressing a frustrated groan, he stirred and turned away from the light, desperately trying to chase sleep.

That didn’t happen, tough, when his friends started to speak.

“Silence, Hanamaki,” someone growled, that someone probably being Iwaizumi because of how angry it sounded, “Oikawa’s sleeping.”

“Aw, look, Takahiro,” Matsukawa said, not even bothering to lower his voice, “he cares about him.”

“Of course he does,” Hanamaki scoffed, shuffling around the room, “I’d say he’s cared ever since he saw him.”

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi said, which was followed by what sounded like a smack and Hanamaki muttering a small ‘ow’, “we also have a match tomorrow, so go to sleep and let us be.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” Hanamaki said, and soon the dorm was practically silent.

Of course, when Oikawa realized he had momentarily forgotten the match, he panicked, but the thought of having the team by his side comforted him. And he had also trained restlessly with Iwaizumi, so it’s not like winning would be hard. Both of them excelled at Quidditch, and the captain would often remind them of that.

And, some hours later, Oikawa found himself in the quidditch pitch, broom in hand and heart about to leap out of his throat.

The match was against Gryffindor, Slytherin’s biggest rival since, apparently, forever. Oikawa didn’t really care about house rivalries, because he just wanted to play and have fun. Well, to be honest, he wanted to win more than anything and probably anyone. 

Everyone waited for the captains to shake hands and the players to get in position. The small pause before the whistle sounded was tense, expectant and full of promises. Promises of victory, the thrill of winning and a defeated look in his opponents’ face.

So, when the whistle was heard, Oikawa was leaping to the air and already looking for the Snitch, his eyes darting from side to side.

He spent some time roaming in the sideways of the pitch, trying not to bother the rest of his team. Oikawa would occasionally see the distant glimmering of gold or even hear the faint flapping of wings over the cheering, but the Snitch was nowhere to be seen yet.

That is, of course, until he saw the ball zoom under Iwaizumi. Oikawa immediately took off, doing a sharp nosedive and keeping track of the Snitch. He briefly lost it a couple of times, but he was always able to spot it again in a matter of milliseconds. The Gryffindor seeker didn’t even stand a chance.

Oikawa held the broom with one hand after a minute of torturous chasing, wishing his broom would give him just _a little bit more impulse._ And, suddenly, after stretching his arm out so much it hurt, his hand gripped onto something.

The whistle blew once again, and he looked down, eyes wide. In between his fingers, the Golden Snitch was fluttering its wings wildly, trying to escape once again. The realization dawned on him when he looked up to and saw the team flying towards him, their faces all wearing matching grins.

He had caught the Snitch! Slytherin had defeated Gryffindor, and the match was over.

A few of the older players ruffled his hair, and a couple of fourth years slapped him in the back, all of it while congratulating him. Normally, this would make Oikawa feel tremendously good and validated, but this time his eyes looked just for one person.

And said person was right before him, smiling widely and holding his fist out. However, Oikawa couldn’t contain his excitement and launched himself to hug Iwaizumi, who laughed out loud and hugged him back.

They all got off their brooms and bowed to the Gryffindor team, the crowd still cheering loudly. When they were all heading out to take their gear off, Oikawa heard someone calling his name. He looked up and saw a group of girls waving at him.

Still feeling confident thanks to the win, Oikawa grinned at them and waved back before heading to the locker rooms.

He felt good. Quidditch was fun.

***

Despite Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s jokes, Oikawa didn’t expect to be greeted in the hallways by some Hufflepuffs. He also didn’t expect to be stopped in the Great Hall by a Gryffindor telling him that they would win next time.

More people stopped to chat with him about how awesome they thought the match was, and congratulate him for the win. After the initial shock wore off, he got used to it, and would even chat with the people who stopped him.

Oikawa was pleasantly surprised, because it was nice to talk with people and he sort of reveled in the attention he was getting. However, he expected his fame would be short-lived, as it was just one match and the chase hadn’t been particularly special.

But he was once again proved wrong.

A week after the game, Oikawa was stopped by the Ravenclaw seeker, asking him if he had any tips for the upcoming Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw game.

To say he was surprised was a severe understatement. The seeker was a fifth year, and that was his second year playing as such. He had never seen an upperclassman ask for help to younger people, let alone from other houses.

Oikawa considered telling him that, but decided to stick with the small observations he had made watching Hufflepuff play, such as that their seeker had a tendency to push others during the chases or that she liked to hover over the middle of the pitch.

The Ravenclaw thanked him profusely and told Oikawa how cool he was before leaving.

‘Huh,’ he thought, ‘that was weird.’

  
  


***

  
  


“Oh my god.” Oikawa huffed under his breath.

“What’s the problem?” Matsukawa said, looking up from his book.

The second years were relaxing in the common room during a weekend, Oikawa having finished helping the underclassmen while the other three caught up with work. 

It was one of the rare occasions where Oikawa had voluntarily skipped on doing anything school-related, and it was far too early to be in the dorms.

“It’s Yahaba and Kyoutani, isn’t it?” Iwaizumi said.

“Of course it’s them,” Oikawa sighed, leaning back on the couch, “they’re pining and it’s so painfully _obvious_ that they like each other.”

“Relax, they’re only, what, twelve?” Hanamaki said, “and they’re not the only ones, tho.”

“What are you talking about?” Oikawa said, looking at him.

“It’s nothing, Oikawa.” Matsukawa closed his book and shuffled around to lay on the couch, his head on Hanamaki’s lap.

Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow at that, but Hanamaki just shrugged.

“Wait, Makki, why did you say ‘they’re only twelve’ as if you’re an adult?”

“Because, my dear Oikawa,” Hanamaki said, “sometimes, being older can help you see things more clearly.”

“Oh please, you two can barely wake up on time most days.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

“Indeed, but older doesn’t mean more responsible,” Matsukawa said.

“It’s _supposed_ to,” Oikawa huffed. 

After that, the room fell silent, Matsukawa closing his eyes and dozing while the rest of them went back to doing their own thing. 

When Oikawa heard Iwaizumi grumble under his breath and erase something, he leaned over to see what he was doing, and couldn’t help the soft gasp.

“Iwa-chan!” He whispered, getting closer to his friend, “I didn’t know you could draw!”

The drawing itself was only a rough sketch of what they had before them, but Oikawa could tell Iwaizumi knew what he was doing; the lines were light and quick and weirdly accurate, even though Matsukawa’s hair looked more like a mop than anything else, and the students’ faces weren’t detailed.

Oikawa was still awed by Iwaizumi’s skill, and his jaw dropped. Just a little bit.

“Yeah, this is nothing,” Iwaizumi said, not even looking up from the paper, redrawing the background, “but the perspective here is hard.”

“Why did I just find this out? You’re really good!”

“I usually paint, and I don’t like drawing with people around. They tend to stare too much.” Iwaizumi gave Oikawa a pointed look, and he realized what he meant with that. 

“Okay, but I’ll only let you walk around freely today, Iwa-chan,” he said, “next time you’re going to teach me how to draw Athena-chan. I want to give her a gift.”

Iwaizumi snorted at that, and huffed out something that sounded like “okay” before going back to his paper, Oikawa’s nose already buried in his book.

***

  
  


A week later, Oikawa was in that very same common room, this time alone.

He was clutching an envelope that had his mother’s handwriting. When he received it in the morning, something told him to read it later, when he had intimacy or at least had time to react to what he thought the letter said.

Exhaling slowly, he tried to calm down and opened the envelope as delicately as possible, making sure the paper didn’t tear.

Oikawa pulled the letter out and opened it.

It was hard to read at first, as his mother's handwriting wasn’t nearly as neat as his, and he had to think about what some kanji meant, but the words soon clicked after the second time:

_“Dear Tooru:_

_As of today, I’m officially a divorced woman with complete custody over my only son, Tooru Oikawa (I will never get used to having your given name first)._

_I already told you the moving process was halfway through, and the good news is that right now it’s almost over, I just changed the sheets of all of the beds at home. (Yes, including yours. By the way, you forgot to change the pillowcase last time, and I used the space set, is that okay?)_

_Everything’s alright over here, the weather as horrible as always, but it looks like this next week won’t be too windy. How’s everything over there? Is Scotland treating you well? As the funny video you showed me says: I sure hope it does._

_By the way, did you manage to sneak Athena-chan those treats I sent you last week? If so, I hope she liked them._

_And I’m sorry if I’m too blunt with this, but you know it’s not your fault. It never will. Don’t blame yourself, because I know you are. It’s going to be tough on you, and I’m so sorry about that. I wish I could be there to comfort you._

_Please, take care of yourself and write soon._

_Infinite love,_

_Mom._ ”

He stared at the paper, his hands trembling, and soon, he couldn’t see anything. The tears made their way and started to run down his cheeks, hiccups and sniffles filling the common room. 

Oikawa left the letter on the coffee table before him so he could cover his ugly crying face and sob more freely.

He knew how bad his mom had it, and she still tried to cheer him up, asking him about the weather and Athena-chan. He knew she had a hard time writing sentimental stuff (and letters in general), knew she always preferred calls and still had to write that because of Hogwarts’ stupid rules.

And yet there he was. Crying to himself in the dead of the night, skipping on both homework and sleep. How pathetic.

The crying fit lasted a while, but when Oikawa calmed down, he couldn’t even move. He was tired and his head hurt and his face was probably red from crying and—

And he heard steps come in and out of the room.

If this were any other situation, Oikawa would definitely panic. His mind was screaming at him everything that could go wrong in this (honestly) ridiculous situation, but he didn’t care. The day had been long, and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

It was, however, when he heard heavier footsteps that he lifted his head and peered over his shoulder. Iwaizumi and Kyoutani were standing in the hallway that led to their dorms. Iwaizumi looked royally pissed, worried and tired all at once, while Kyoutani simply looked sleepy, his signature dark bags even darker.

“What the hell, Oikawa?” Iwaizumi said brashly, before noticing the tear tracks in the other’s cheeks, “Oh. Thank you Kyoutani, but you should go to bed.”

Kyoutani simply nodded, and gave Oikawa a brief look before turning around and disappearing. Iwaizumi, on the other hand, walked up to Oikawa and asked him if he could sit on the couch. His lack of response must have been enough for him to take it as a “yes”, and did as such.

“What happened?” Iwaizumi asked after a moment of uncertain and borderline awkward silence.

“I– I’m not sure if I can tell you.” Just remembering the letter made him feel overwhelmed.

“What do you mean?” Oikawa didn’t reply. “Hey, are you okay?”

Iwaizumi hugged him when Oikawa shook his head and tried to comfort him when he started crying once again. Iwaizumi was terrible at comforting people, from what it seemed, as he just pet his hair and rubbed his arms from time to time.

They stayed like that for a while, and he realized that Iwaizumi probably wouldn’t even care if he told him, right? He trusted him and didn’t say anything when Hanamaki told them he liked a guy. His own experience wasn’t too good with coming out, but this was Iwaizumi. Who was comforting him in the middle of the night without questioning it.

It didn’t take too long before Oikawa concluded that yeah, Iwaizumi Hajime was a good person. He could tell him the whole thing.

“My parents just got divorced,” he said, breaking the heavy silence of the room, “and it’s my fault.”

Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa away from him, hands on his shoulders, and gave him a bewildered look.

“What are you talking about?” He said, confusion evident in his voice.

And with that, Oikawa poured his heart and the last month’s troubles, not skipping a single thing. Iwaizumi was a good listener, and stayed silent throughout the whole thing. Oikawa even read Iwaizumi his mother’s letter, who smiled when Athena was mentioned.

Oikawa felt significantly better after telling his friend the whole thing. It was almost therapeutic, and Iwaizumi was constantly giving him silent support, comforting him when he got too overwhelmed.

“I’m sorry you have a homophobic father,” Iwaizumi said when Oikawa calmed down, “but your mom seems like a great person.”

“She is,” he said, smiling slightly, “I love her, and she’s always supported me ever since I came out to them.”

“About coming out.” Iwaizumi shuffled a bit, looking away. “I think I’m gay as well.”

Oikawa didn’t reply for a moment, mind and face blank. Then, he laughed incredulously.

Iwaizumi stiffened and opened his mouth, probably to curse or insult him, but Oikawa held a hand up while his laughter died down, effectively silencing him.

“I’m sorry, Iwa-chan,” he said, wiping some stray tears with his sweater’s sleeve, “it’s just that you need to read the room.”

At the realization of what had happened, Iwaizumi’s face flushed, and he mumbled a soft “sorry”. It had been disconcerting, but that did definitely help Oikawa feel better.

“Don’t worry, it’s actually nice to know that Makki and I aren’t alone.” Oikawa waved his hand around a bit. “And thanks for comforting me, by the way. I really needed that.”

“Yeah, it’s no problem,” Iwaizumi said, “but we should go to bed. It’s late.”

Oikawa hummed his agreement and gathered everything. Iwaizumi stood next to him, and led the way to the dorms, almost like some sort of knight.

“By the way, what was Kyouken-chan doing here?” Oikawa asked.

“He saw you here and thought you were working, so he decided to call me to take care of you.”

“You say it as if I were a baby, Iwa-chan.”

“That’s because you are one.”

“Mean, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa pouted, both of them snickering in unison the next second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do i know how to finish a chapter without the characters going to sleep or during the night? absolutely not. but this is my first multichapter fic with an actual plot, so please bear with me.
> 
> if y’all haven’t noticed, i love projecting parts of myself into my favorite characters, so if you want to yell about artist and/or ambidextrous iwaizumi, feel free to hit me up on [tumblr](http://featherlight-whispers.tumblr.com)
> 
> about the divorce. i have no idea how they work, and i tried to make it as realistic as possible, taking into account the circumstances of how it happened. i like to think it isn’t too shabby, but if it is, just call me out in the comments
> 
> thank you for reading, kudos and comments are highly appreciated


	5. Storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello. I know it has taken me quite a while to post this chapter, but, as you’ll see later, it’s longer than the previous ones. i also rewrote the first four chapters, which is partly why it has taken me so long to post. i won’t bother you anymore tho, enjoy the chapter

The rest of the year practically slipped from Oikawa’s grasp in between Quidditch matches, classes, homework and exams. Slytherin won the house cup for the second time in a row ever since he started out in Hogwarts, but they lost to Hufflepuff’s quidditch team in the final round.

Oikawa still took some time to accept that his parents had divorced, but with his friends’ support, he eventually came around it. After all, it was for the better. He would still need time to recover from the blow, if he could, after the brutal change in his father, but he knew his mother was there for him. Oikawa would obviously try to help her out, but she was far more composed than him.

He talked more than ever with her, their letters getting gradually longer, and Oikawa couldn’t say he disliked the newfound closeness with his mother. He felt like he could tell her anything and still have his privacy respected. 

In his letters, he told her about Kuroo and Bokuto and Daichi; the small details of his daily life at Hogwarts. He even told her about how, despite this time being the second one, Oikawa still had a hard time saying goodbye to Hanamaki, Matsukawa and Iwaizumi. And Watari and Yahaba and even Kyoutani. He also included that he wasn’t as close as he’d like to with his underclassmen, but he would definitely miss them.

The train ride back home was still full of lively chatter and lots of planning for their hangouts. Oikawa even tried to cuddle Athena when nap time came around, but Matsukawa mentioned something about crushing the poor pet, and he immediately gave up. (He hogged Athena the whole time and only let Iwaizumi pet her, though. Hanamaki kept giving Iwaizumi and him weirdly suspicious looks.)

His mother welcomed him at the other end of the muggle station with open arms and a beaming smile, momentarily stopping her conversation with his friends’ parents.

Oikawa leaped at her, holding her tight before letting go and introducing Athena-chan. Iwaizumi insisted she should pet her, and the owl soon took a liking to her, gently nipping her fingers and rubbing against her like a cat. When Iwaizumi managed to coax Athena to hop back on his shoulder, he talked briefly with their parents, who were anxious to know about their son’s school year. Hanamaki and Matsukawa did more or less the same thing, but Oikawa was just happy to be with his mother, who seemed to think the same way and simply snaked an arm over his shoulder the same way she did when he was younger.

After listening to the adults talk for a while, he noticed the chatter was way more relaxed without his father, and Oikawa breathed with more ease. His mother had always been fascinated with wizards her age, and they seemed to be filling out the blanks and telling her about their differences with no problem, looking almost pleased with the enthusiasm behind Emiko’s words. Oikawa curled the corner of his lips without noticing it; keeping his mother away from knowledge could be considered a crime.

“Hey,” Hanamaki said, snapping his fingers in front of Oikawa’s face, “is everything alright with you? You seem distracted, and you’ve been spacing out a lot lately.”

“It’s nothing.” Oikawa stretched his arms over his head. “I’m just tired. The train seats should be more comfy.”

“Ah, true, Issei,” Hanamaki said, a mischievous smile on his face, “we ‘interrupted his nap with our bullying’.”

Iwaizumi laughed at the whiny voice the other had used to impersonate Oikawa, who in turn squaked indignantly.

“Makki! I do _not_ sound like that!” Oikawa complained, using his whiny voice, which wasn’t like the one Hanamaki had attributed him, _thank you very much_.

“Yeah you do, Oikawa.” Iwaizumi stretched his arm out and looked at Athena, who flew from the suitcase handle to her owner’s arm. “But still, you just looked worried.”

Iwaizumi’s words took Oikawa by surprise, and he might have blushed a bit because of that. Of course, Matsukawa noticed that, so he barked his obnoxious laughter and pointed at him, to which Oikawa gave his friend the stink eye and stuck his tongue out.

“Takahiro, can you believe this?” Matsukawa said, clinging to Hanamaki, “He complains about us not caring about him, but the second we ask what’s wrong he simply glares and is rude to us.”

“Unbelievable,” Hanamaki deadpanned, shaking his head slowly.

“That’s because you guys are assholes,” Iwaizumi said, blunt as ever, “Oikawa is like a kid, you have to be nice to him so he doesn’t cry.”

A couple of seconds passed, the group completely silent. Then, Hanamaki and Matsukawa were howling with laughter, and Oikawa was about to combust from either shame or anger, whichever came first.

“Iwa-chan!” He screeched, “That’s not nice either!”

Iwaizumi simply shrugged, and before Oikawa could even think of retorting, his mother called out to him, the apologetic tone in her voice foreshadowing the dreaded definite separation. Hanamaki and Iwaizumi’s parents agreed with his mother and remembered their children about the long long way they still had to go before getting home, magic or not.

So, already thinking about their chaotic conversations through letters and their carefully crafted plans to get together, Oikawa waved his hand at the three boys that had helped him out the last two years and lost sight of them as he stepped into the crowd.

***

Summer break was a thousand times better without his father at home. Tooru and his mother would talk often, and she also was terribly curious about what he had studied that year. Her desire to learn new things was insatiable, and Tooru wondered if she was like that in his first year. (She probably was.)

They would often spend whole afternoons talking about the classes he enjoyed the most, particularly hard spells or anecdotes too long to write down. Both of them would usually end up doubling over in laughter with the last, fighting to get to the bathroom first and complaining about sore abs during the rest of the day.

He enjoyed it so much, and even if they didn’t really leave anywhere, Tooru still had the time of his life, and was able to hang out with his friends more. He often thought about how fortunate he was, and would often thank his mother.

However (and much to Tooru’s dismay), that didn’t save him from chores.

 _“Tooru! ”_ His mother’s voice boomed from downstairs, _“Come and help me with the dishes!”_

 _“Goooooing,”_ he drawled, sighing under his breath.

In the Oikawa household they all spoke in Japanese, so Tooru wouldn’t forget it, and the change from English was welcome. It felt special speaking a whole new language just with his mother; it reminded him of how much their relationship had improved in the past months.

The thing about Tooru and house chores is that he didn’t mind taking things out and making a mess, neither did he care particularly about organizing, but, for some reason, he had always despised cleaning. His mother liked to tease him and say that was because he probably had royal blood from his father’s side, but it’s not like either of them could confirm it. Well. Not anymore.

When Tooru made his way downstairs, he saw his mother tidying up their meal dishes, humming a vaguely familiar tune. Some of them had sauce stains, and he cringed inwardly. Those would be hard to clean.

However, when his mother saw the way he was staring at the dishes, she gave him this severe look that screamed “don’t even think about it”. And Tooru didn’t even think about it. He diligently walked to the sink, next to the stack his mom had neatly arranged, and started to wash the plates without uttering a single complaint.

After scrubbing and rinsing for a while, when he still had more than half to go, his mother stepped into the kitchen with Tooru’s phone and the small speaker they both shared, as well as her work laptop.

 _“Thought you wanted music._ ” Tooru hummed, and thanked his mother.

Despite Tooru loathing the whole cleaning process, the stillness of the situation definitely made the task much more bearable. His mother still chatted over the hushed upbeat music, complaining about his coworkers, or telling Tooru about the latest letter he had received via owl. This sort of normality had a vaguely hazy feeling to it, like a scene that has been played over and over again, to the point of not knowing when it started or when it would end.

The calm didn’t last long, and it shattered when his mother’s work phone interrupted their unspoken agreement to cherish those shared moments of peace. She took the phone and left the kitchen for a couple of agitated minutes. As she set the phone back down on the table and sighed, Tooru asked what was wrong. My boss won’t listen to me, his mother replied. Tooru didn’t know what to say, so he just went back to scrubbing, completely stripped of the usual eloquence he flaunted in school.

‘It’s infuriating.’ Tooru scrubbed harder at a nasty spot in the last dish left, a frown making way into his face. ‘Mom is such a capable engineer, but she has less chances because she’s an immigrant and a woman.’

Once he had dried the plates, Tooru convinced his mother to go to the living room, where she could work more comfortably while he read. When they got there, he sat next to her on the sofa, something he hadn’t done in years, and she smiled broadly at him.

Tooru looked away with a small smile when he felt his mother shuffle closer to him.

***

_“Tooru!_ ” His mother called from downstairs, _“Hurry up or we’re going to be late!”_

 _“Going! ”_ He tried not to fumble too much with his delicate potions set, and was mildly successful.

As he rushed downstairs, luggage trailing behind him, Tooru saw his mother at their makeshift genkan. To be fair, it was just a big shoe rack by the entrance, but still. It’s the thought that counts. She was carrying his satchel, which was probably heavy with all of his books.

The cold wind around them bit Tooru’s uncovered skin, and he shivered, his voice transforming into white puffs of air when it left his lips. 

_“Isn’t it a bit too much for the car?_ ” he asked as his mother unlocked the car, the same question written across her face.

 _“There’s only one way to know,”_ she grinned, _“isn’t there?_ ”

After some shuffling around, they both managed to fit everything into the car’s trunk without breaking anything or taking too long. Tooru turned the radio’s volume a tad louder than usual, and huffed out a laugh when his mother sang off-key on purpose, eventually joining her.

Luckily, the traffic was smooth and they made it to the station in no time. Oikawa and his friends had agreed to wait and cross the wall together, so they waited for them to come by, Oikawa and his mother gossiping in hushed whispers about the students he recognized. However, Oikawa was more well-known than what he recalled from last year, because most of the students that crossed the wall waved at him, or did something to show their acknowledgement.

 _“Wow, Tooru,”_ his mother whistled after the fifth greeting, _“I didn’t know you were so popular ”_

_“Neither did I, mom. Neither did I.”_

Matsukawa, surprisingly, arrived first, parents in tow, and they soon struck up a conversation, familiar banter only interrupted by Oikawa’s new-found fandom and lost muggleborns in their first year. They talked about the things they’d done the past month, and how they thought this next year was going to be when Iwaizumi made a sudden appearance. Hanamaki made a grand entrance by getting to the meeting point just two minutes before the barrier closed. 

They all bolted to cross the portal, promising over their shoulders that they would write often and work hard at school.

Once they got into the wizard side of the station, they were hit with the deafening noise of the train’s loud whistle, their schoolmates’ chatter and parents bidding their goodbyes. Matsukawa took the lead and almost ran a couple of people over in his haste to open a path for them. Athena screeched when someone tumbled against Iwaizumi’s trolley, but they still hopped on the carriage before the doors shut.

The train was packed, and looking for an empty compartiment was a rather difficult task; the four of them spent roughly seven minutes asking and knocking on doors, until Iwaizumi found a place. It could easily be the smallest compartment of the train, its seats barely fitting two people, but they would manage. They didn’t even bother to bicker over their placement, plopping in the seats as they stepped in. Just as they were all sitting down, the train started moving, and their things thudded loudly against the floor as they were abandoned there. 

It was evident that sprint had taken quite a toll on them, but their light pants soon evened out into deep breaths that was periodically interrupted by Athena, or someone in nearby compartiments talking a tad too loudly.

“So,” Matsukawa said, breaking the comfortable silence that blanketed them, “our friend Oikawa is bilingual.”

“Yeah, we already knew that.” Iwaizumi was sitting next to Oikawa this time, so he couldn’t see his facial expression. Their shoulders would brush every time the train took a rough bump. Athena was perched on Iwaizumi’s forearm, dozing off lightly despite the noise and loud voices muffled by the compartment’s door.

“But you know what that means, right?” Matsukawa waited, and when everyone stared at him in confusion, he sighed deeply, “You all wound me with your ignorance.”

“Cut the crap, Issei,” Hanamaki said, swatting him in the arm.

“What that means is that we could use it to communicate without other people knowing what we’re saying.”

“Mattsun,” Oikawa chimed in, “I’m sorry I have to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m sure there’s more people in the school that knows Japanese.”

“Yeah, most of us are half Japanese or have Japanese parents,” Iwaizumi said, petting Athena-chan.

“Takahiro, help me out,” Matsukawa all but pleaded, giving Hanamaki what looked like a poor attempt of puppy eyes.

“I mean,” he said, “they’re right. We could learn another language, though.”

“Yeah, because we have the time and braincells to do it.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and Oikawa guffawed, too busy cackling to point at Matsukawa’s wounded expression.

“Iwaizumi, I thought you had more faith in us,” Matsukawa whined, sounding more like Oikawa than himself.

“Well, you thought wrong.”

Oikawa’s roaring laughter was drowned out by loud complaints and groaning. Hanamaki and Matsukawa would keep complaining about that jab for months, and would probably sound like they had something up their ass as they did it. So, really, who was Oikawa not to high-five Iwaizumi and classify that memory as Highly Hilarious?

***

Third year wasn’t starting off as great as Oikawa had envisioned. The thing about school is that, no matter how much effort you put in, if it doesn’t come naturally to you, it will always be hard. Oikawa had spent the last two years at Hogwarts working hard, and despite his fame as a “gifted child” in elementary school, magic school was putting up quite the fight.

First year had been relatively easy, Iwaizumi, Hanamaki and Matsukawa aiding him in the integration process, but the addition of quidditch had proved that even fun things could eventually become a burden. 

Now Oikawa had to worry about school, his quite troublesome personal life, quidditch and pleasing the people around him. His friends were close enough that he could be himself, but ever since that _damned_ match in second year, Oikawa’s popularity had increased by tenfold. When he eventually got over the shock, Oikawa appreciated the attention, and enjoyed being everyone’s current hot topic, but there were certain times when it was simply an inconvenience.

Like when he tried to study with his friends.

“Why do people not understand that we’re trying to get shit done?” Oikawa hissed, clutching his quill tighter and trying not to rip his hair off.

“I will curse the day we were all sorted into different houses until I draw my last breath.” Kuroo’s voice came muffled from the arm he had thrown over his face. “For we cannot study together in the blissful peace of a common room.”

“Ah, it’d be fun to be in the same house!” Bokuto chirped, “But I don’t know if I would be able to stand being surrounded by Oikawa’s fans constantly. Seriously, man, leave some attention for the rest of us.” Kuroo and Bokuto laughed lightly at the brief scowl Oikawa directed at the latter.

“It’s not like it’s Oikawa’s fault, but it can be fairly distracting,” Daichi said, stretching his arms, “what if we take a break? We deserved it.”

“Sorry guys, but I’m not going.” Oikawa didn’t even bother to look up from the potions textbook. “Gotta catch up on the work I couldn't do because of that first year student.” 

“Hell no,” Bokuto exclaimed, “we all need to rest, and Akaashi promised to take the afternoon off so we could be together. If I get to hang out, so do you, Oikawa.”

“Bokkun, just this once, please?” Oikawa gave his friend the puppy eyes, but Bokuto didn’t waver, and finished packing his own things. “I really need to finish this essay, don’t leave me alone and miserable studying.”

“You have to _finish_ the essay or are you pushing yourself to finish it two weeks before it’s due?” Daichi walked up to OIkawa’s place and looked at the assignment’s instructions. “Oikawa, this is for next week and you’re only missing an inch. Relax, take time off.”

“Forcing yourself to do things the moment they’re announced isn’t healthy,” Kuroo said in his infinite wisdom, “you’re going to reach your breaking point sooner than later.”

“Okay, okay,” Oikawa sighed deeply, closing the heavy book, “I’ll hang out with you. But don’t cry when you have bad grades.”

“I’m literally the only one here with bad grades,” Bokuto said, “but I’m not failing yet.”

 _“Yet,”_ Kuroo cackled.

“Yet. But don't worry guys, I always manage to pass with decent grades.” Bokuto led the small group through the library’s intricate corridors, the prospect of freedom giving him a slight spring in his step.

“I’ll always wonder how you always do that,” Daichi said, “is it some sort of secret, or… ?”

“It’s my talent!” Bokuto said, “I have no idea how, but I have never failed an exam. Well, except that last maths exam I had before getting the Hogwarts letter, but I’ve always been terrible at maths.”

“Oh, you’re not a pureblood?” Oikawa asked, genuinely shocked. Bokuto had never mentioned muggle school, or anything before coming to Hogwarts. Huh.

“Nope! I'm half and half. Dad's a muggle, Mam's a witch. Bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out, tho,” Bokuto giggled, and then whooped in joy when he saw Akaashi waiting for them at the end of the hallway. “Akaaashiii! Hello! I thought you were going to wait for me outside!”

Oikawa had never been formally introduced to Bokuto’s object of enthusiasm, but when he was close enough to properly see him, the first thing he noticed was how sharp Akaashi Keiji’s eyes were. He soon learned, as well, how soft his smile could be when Bokuto tackled him with his completely over the top hugging technique.

“Hello, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi brought an arm up and gently patted Bokuto’s firm shoulder, letting his hand linger slightly before looking up. “Hello to you too, Daichi-san. Pain-in-the-ass-Kuroo-san. And I suppose you’re Oikawa-san, a pleasure.”

“Same thing here, Akaashi-kun.” 

“Don’t be so wound up, Oikawa,” Bokuto yelped before Daichi or Kuroo could greet back, “Akaashi is really polite, but don’t worry, you’ll love him.”

Kuroo leaned into Oikawa and whispered, “maybe not as much as Bokuto loves him, but I’m sure you’ll get along.”

“I see,” Oikawa hummed lowly, and then turned around to smile at Daichi, “Dai-chan, wanna come with Kuroo-chan and I to look for Kenma-kun? He just told me he’d been looking for him earlier and couldn’t find him.”

“Sure,” Daichi said, “Bokuto, we’ll leave you with Akaashi then.”

“Okay!” Bokuto waved half-heartedly, not even bothering to turn to them. He was already talking Akaashi’s ears off, but the other didn’t seem to mind; in fact, his initial faint smile only grew bigger the more Bokuto talked.

‘That’s interesting,’ Oikawa thought, trailing a few steps behind Daichi and Kuroo, ‘interesting indeed.’

***

Whenever someone greeted Oikawa like they were close friends, an uneasy feeling flourished in his chest, in all of its toxic and poisonous and ugly glory. It felt wrong. Sure, his popularity had increased after the quidditch season started again, and his grades were more like some sort of legend among his peers and underclassmen, but still. Being stopped in the corridors made him feel wrong. Inadequate and undeserving of the attention.

Especially when he was in a bad mood.

And today he was in a foul mood.

But he couldn’t let that show, so when a Hufflepuff second year approached him to wish him luck in his next match, Oikawa simply plastered a fake smile on and thanked the boy before leaving.

It had been hard at first, to be honest. The whole faking thing. It took lots of weird glances and worried words for him to actively practice on his own, but after some months he got the hang of it. Oikawa wasn’t fond of lying and pretending, but this was necessary. Hogwarts would sometimes remind him of his old school, where people could be like piranhas; waiting for you to falter a bit, only to be devoured by them for the sake of their entertainment.

So when he found himself putting up fake smiles more and more, Iwaizumi decided to do something about it.

After a particularly intense training, Iwaizumi dragged him to the common room without giving anyone an explanation, where Hanamaki and Matsukawa were sitting with the first years. Kunimi and Kindaichi fled, though, and they sat on their seats. Well, Iwaizumi did. When the other two looked up at him, they wore uncharacteristically serious faces, and Oikawa wondered if it was too late to jump in the lake. 

“Oikawa.” Hanamaki pointed lazily at the couch between Matsukawa and Iwaizumi. Looks like Oikawa would be in front of him, then. “Please take a seat, we’ve got to talk.”

“Talk about what, Makki?” Oikawa said in an innocent voice, giving his friends yet another plastic smile and sat down, making sure not to get too comfortable.

“That,” Iwaizumi grunted. He looked strangely good, face lit by candles and the light that seeped through the lake.

“Our friend Iwaizumi has noticed you aren’t acting like yourself lately. And we’re worried.”

“Why would you be worried, Mattsun? I’m perfectly fine, the same Oikawa you all love and adore.” 

“Our dear Oikawa is still there, yes,” Hanamaki said carefully, “but there’s something wrong with him, and we want to help. We’re your friends for a reason, you know that.”

“There’s nothing wrong guys.” He was met with silence. “Come on! I’m just a bit tired, it’ll be fixed during the Christmas break.”

“Yeah, sure,” Iwaizumi frowned, “just spit it out, Oikawa, we can see right through your bullshit.”

Oikawa’s lips curled into a sneer. Why couldn’t they leave him alone? He had already told them it was nothing, and yet here they were, trying to butt in his business.

“I told you.” Oikawa dropped the façade and hardened his voice, which sounded more like a growl than anything else. “I’m okay, there’s nothing wrong with me. Maybe it’s you who have a problem, because you can’t accept a simple ‘I’m fine’ for an answer.”

“You know there’s no reason for you to hide anything from us, but if you want to keep your secrets, then go ahead. We won’t bother you anymore.” Matsukawa gave Oikawa a wary look, almost expecting him to break down or something.

But Oikawa simply got up and left, his shoes clicking loudly against the otherwise deadly silent common room. 

***

Despite being in the same classes and sharing a dorm, the next time Oikawa let himself be near Hanamaki, Matsukawa and Iwaizumi was during the first class of the following day. He didn’t really have an option because he sat near them anyways.

When he plopped in his place next to them, Hanamaki and Matsukawa looked at each other and had some sort of telepathic conversation, because soon enough Matsukawa was facing him.

“Oikawa, are you feeling better than yesterday?” He said, uncertainty and slight panic evident in his voice, “You definitely seem to be doing better, and I’m glad that seems to be the case.”

‘Seriously? Is he trying to make small talk?’ Oikawa thought. He wanted to tell him to fuck off, but frankly, he wouldn’t be able to. Not unless he wanted the Hufflepuff sitting behind them to hear the whole thing and babble away. No, sir. That was the last thing he needed right now, and by the way Matsukawa was looking at him, pinched eyebrows and all, that would just worsen the situation further.

“I, in fact, feel much better.” His voice was cheerful and light as always, but anyone that looked beyond his usual demeanor could probably tell that he was pissed. And if Matsukawa’s face told him anything is that he did see past that. “Thank you for asking and worrying about me, Matsukawa-kun. I really appreciate that.”

He patted his friend’s shoulder and gave him a sickeningly sweet smile, sugar and poison dripping from it, before turning back around, completely ignoring a stunned Matsukawa and Hanamaki and a rather angry-looking Iwaizumi.

The class soon started, languidly stretching and going on agonizingly slow, and Oikawa started to wonder why he was so mad at them anyways. Them being Hanamaki, Matsukawa and Iwaizumi. Them being his first friends in Hogwarts. 

His train of thought eventually stopped at the memories of how different everything was before quidditch. He longed for the past uninterrupted conversations when walking the hallways, and going to the library more often with his housemates and juniors. But now people would stop by, and talk to him and even if he _liked_ it, the attention, he eventually got tired of it. People would ask about a certain spell, or a potion ingredient, or a player from the rival house and suddenly everything was too much.

Oikawa never thought he would dislike being popular. He was so, so wrong.

***

“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Oikawa said, trotting to the spot they had all agreed. The late February weather was still so cold he had to bury his face in his Slytherin scarf.

“Oikawaaa,” Bokuto whined, “Kuroo is bullying me.”

“I’m not bullying him, I just told him that he likes Akaashi.” Kuroo shrugged. He was leaning against a leafless tree, Daichi next to him and Bokuto dramatically draped on the semi frozen grass.

“To be fair, Bokuto talks about him as much as quidditch, and you know how he is with quidditch.” Daichi was shivering lightly, despite wearing a— a Hufflepuff scarf?

“Oh man, quidditch! Gryffindor has the tryouts for the team this week, and I’ve been thinking—“ Bokuto trailed off talking about the position he wanted to play, Oikawa chuckling slightly and running his fingers through the grass.

“How did you get into the team so early anyways?” Daichi asked while Bokuto and Kuroo bickered in the background, “And with Iwaizumi, no less.”

“Well, they accepted Iwa-chan because he’s, like, _really good._ And I guess it was sort of the same thing for me. Maybe they saw potential, and let me play in the starting lineup because I practiced so much.”

“I see. I’m going to the tryouts as well, and while I may not be as good as you, you have to watch your back.” Daichi’s face morphed into an intimidating grin. “I’m planning to kick your ass.”

Oikawa barked out an incredulous laugh. “I’d like to see you try, Dai-chan. I’m not going to relax either.”

Once Kuroo and Bokuto’s fighting died out, Oikawa enjoyed the brief and rare moment of calm before it was broken.

“Kuroo is going to join the Ravenclaw team too!” Bokuto said, “He wants to be a chaser.”

“Chaser Kuroo-chan would be terrible,” Oikawa said, “I look forward to the nightmare, so make sure you all three get into the starting lineup.”

“Thanks, oh great Oikawa-sama,” Kuroo huffed, “should we trust you with our future seekers, or are you going to corrupt their innocent souls?”

“As long as they’re your friends, I’ll give them advice. Well. Unless I find them seriously annoying, but I doubt that’ll happen.”

“Oh, talking about new players,” Bokuto chimed in, “there’s a first year that has a really promising future! His name is Kageyama Tobio, and professor Washijo says he would be an excellent seeker.”

“Yeah, same thing with Noya, the captain wants him in the team as a keeper. He says we could alternate so we don’t get tired.” Daichi burrowed into his cape even further, only his eyes and forehead visible now.

“Noya? As in Nishinoya Yuu?” Kuroo said, “I’ve seen him run around.”

The rest kept up chatting, but Oikawa eventually felt his focus slowly slip away, until he was staring at the tree’s bark. His thoughts slowly drifted away, thinking about that new move he had seen in a book and the homework for this week, and didn’t he have a potions exam this next week? He’d have to ask someone. Someone that wasn’t the people he had been avoiding the whole week.

Oikawa heard someone calling out to him, but he only snapped back to reality when he saw a hand wave dangerously close to his face. 

The hand was Bokuto’s, the closest to him, and now everyone was sitting up and giving him worried looks.

“Oikawa, are you okay? You’ve been acting weird this whole week.”

“I’m perfectly fine, Dai-chan! Just a bit stressed.” He needed to get the concerned stares away from him. “Where did that scarf come from, by the way?”

When Daichi’s cheeks practically glowed red, he knew he had hit the nail in the head.

“He won’t tell us,” Kuroo chuckled, “Bokuto and I have been trying to get the juicy gossip, but we need your help. Only you can help us; this guy is like an old man with a lot of dirty secrets.”

“Sure, Kuroo-chan, I’ll gladly help!”

After some intense interrogation, they discovered that the scarf belonged to Sugawara Koushi, a Hufflepuff third year. Oikawa knew there was something else he wasn’t telling them, but he already had an idea about what was left unsaid.

“I’ve heard Suga is excellent at DADA,” Bokuto said, “is that true, Daichi?”

“I wear a single scarf and now you think I know everything about Ko— Suga.” Everyone gave him unimpressed looks, and Daichi eventually cracked under the pressure. “Fine, okay, okay. Suga _is_ good at DADA; he’s the best Hufflepuff at it, and after sparring with him in our free time I can confirm it.”

“Aaaaw,” Oikawa said, putting a hand over his chest and wiping an invisible tear from his face, “our boy is growing up. Look at him, having friends and maybe even a boyfriend.”

Bokuto and Kuroo laughed, and the Hogwarts gardens echoed Daichi’s ear-splitting screeches.

***

“Oh, hello, Oikawa-san,” Yahaba greeted when he looked up. Oikawa had been helping out the juniors as usual, and even then he would notice the looks of concern and pity. He didn’t say anything, but it drove him mad, the clutch on his wand a little tighter when even Kyoutani’s voice was too soft around the edges. 

“Yaho, Yahaba. Sorry you had to see that, sometimes Bocchan can be a real pain in the ass when study time comes around.” The library had soon substituted the Slytherin common room when Oikawa had work to do, and by the look in Yahaba’s eyes, that change had not gone unnoticed. “Anyways, I’m sorry you had to look all over the place for me, what did you need my help with?”

“Oh, it’s just that I’ve got some questions about my transfiguration exam tomorrow.”

“Right! You did mention that to me last week, sorry I forgot.”

“It’s nothing, Oikawa-san, but lately you’ve been sort of… distracted. Are you okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Oikawa chirped, mirth all-too fake in his eyes and smile pulling too tight on his mouth. “What was your question?”

“Ah well, it’s just that I don’t think I’m getting the wand movement quite right for this spell?” Yahaba pointed at the last point of his exam bullet list.

“Okay,” Oikawa said, “wanna try here? I think I have a bunch of extra quills you could practice with.”

Yahaba nodded, and when the quills were on the table, he didn’t waste time; a bright flash of light surrounding them as the transfiguration was carried out. Oikawa noticed Yahaba had twirled the wand around a bit too much before casting the spell. 

‘Ah, so that’s the problem.’

“Why does it always do the same thing?” Yahaba said, and Oikawa looked up to see him pinching the bridge of his nose and screwing his eyes shut, frustrated to no end.

“It’s because of the wand,” he tapped the poor attempt of a transfigured pillow, “you move it too much, and the movement is supposed to be a straight line.”

Oikawa took his own wand and copied what Yahaba had done, then doing the correct movement. “Do you see the difference?”

“Not really, could you repeat it?” Yahaba was staring at his hands, and Oikawa feared he might burn them with the intensity of his focus.

“Okay, so you have to make this second movement.” Oikawa traced the air with his wand, wrist flicking with confidence. “More like a capital z. Yours was like an s, and that’s probably what messed with the spell, because the rest of the wandwork was perfect. Do you know the formula?”

“Yeah, I’ve had to study the whole summer to remember it,” Yahaba huffed, “Kyoutani understood it the first time it was mentioned, and it wasn’t too hard for Watari either.”

Oikawa looked at the boy with newfound interest. He recognized the glint in his eyes; it was painfully familiar. 

But he couldn’t tell him about his struggles as well. At least not now. He was supposed to help Yahaba, and his friends were probably waiting for him to come back.

“You should relax, Yahaba. You’re smart and you did great last year.” Oikawa patted him on the shoulder and gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. 

“Oikawa-san, I mean this with no intention to offend you, but you’re the last person that should talk about relaxing.” Ouch. 

“Exactly because I know how exhausting it is to be constantly working, I can tell when you’re working too much. Don’t worry, you’re going to ace this exam.” 

“If you say so…” Yahaba said, looking at his book and parchment with apprehension, “thanks for the help, Oikawa-san.”

“No problem, Yahaba.” Oikawa stepped away and looked at Yahaba slip seamlessly into the crowd that had begun to create in the corridors, light hair soon engulfed by the boisterous sea of people. 

Fuck. Tension bled out of his shoulders when Oikawa was sure Yahaba wouldn’t come back. _Fuck._ He had noticed something, and he didn’t know what he would do. Practically anyone with eyes could tell something had happened between Iwaizumi, Hanamaki, Matsukawa and him, but Yahaba was scarily perceptive at times and not knowing what would happen set Oikawa on edge.

He needed to fix this. He got mad for a stupid reason anyways. Yeah, he was going to do something and get back to the much-needed normalcy between the four of them. Oikawa could do it. Oikawa _had_ to do it.

***

After Oikawa hit two weeks ignoring his closest friends, he found himself cornered, once again, by them; this time in their dorm. He had been going to sleep later than them this whole time in hopes of avoiding this and have more time to plan his apology, but alas, his effort was thrown out of the window when he heard the door slam behind him.

While he had been meaning to fix the situation for a couple of days, he wasn’t That Ready. But maybe this was the little push he needed to put the plan in action.

He turned around and saw his fellow Slytherin third years give him threatening looks, the moonlight that streamed through the lake illuminating them lazily gave an almost malicious glint to their eyes.

“Why have you been avoiding us this whole time?” Oikawa knew the moment Matsukawa spoke that he wouldn’t be able to get away from the conversation. His friends were tired of his bullshit and they wanted answers.

Oikawa gestured vaguely, looking for a way to put all of his troubles in words. “When I get stressed I shut people out.”

“But you haven’t shut Bokuto, Sawamura and Kuroo out.”

“I’m not as close with them as I am with you,” Oikawa admitted. He couldn’t look at any of them in the face, and he knew that no matter how hard he tried, the darkness surrounding them wouldn’t hide his face. This was getting completely out of hand, it wasn’t meant to go this way.

“Oh. You should’ve told us you were stressed. We would have given you space if you asked.”

‘Lies,’ Oikawa thought bitterly, ‘you would have left because I’m a burden.’

“It’s okay, Hanamaki. I’m feeling better, and that’s what matters,” Oikawa said and flashed a peace sign. He didn’t even bother to fake a smile, because that would piss Iwaizumi off, and the current semi-peace was too precious to let go.

If someone wanted to say something about the change in names, they didn’t do it. Everything was suddenly too quiet, and the eerie silence made Oikawa’s skin itch.

“Well, if the conversation is over, I suppose I’ll take my leave and go get some sleep. Bye bye.” 

Oikawa turned his back on them and shuffled around, ignoring the hushed muttering. He was used to doing that, despite how he could feel their looks pinning him down, examining every step he took, his movements and practically his very breath.

Stress and guilt ate him away, desperation about to crack his mask. He hadn’t planned to be so brusque, he didn’t want to cut the conversation short, he had planned three steps ahead for a reason, damnit, he had fucked up and they would be angry at him and he’d have to avoid them this whole time and—

“Oikawa.” Hanamaki’s serious voice stopped him dead on his tracks, the unintended demand urging him to _listen._ “Are you okay? You look ready to run away.”

“Everything’s just peachy.”

“Are you sure?” Iwaizumi spoke up for the first time, his normally angry tone now laced with concern. Oikawa hadn’t interacted with him since the common room conversation, and what were meant to be soft-spoken words hit him like a truck. Anyone could hear the vulnerability in the rawness of his voice, and it made Oikawa’s gut churn with shame and guilt.

“Yeah,” he said, turning just his head to give Iwaizumi a remorseful smile, “don’t worry about it.”

***

It was during astronomy class when Oikawa started to finally make up for weeks worth of avoiding his friends. He sat next to Matsukawa in the tower and shared a telescope. Whenever Professor Irihata asked a question his friend didn’t know the answer to, he would murmur the answer. As time went by, he also chatted a bit with Hanamaki. They cracked a couple of jokes under their breaths and muffled their giggling with their hands. It wasn’t exactly what they used to be like, but it was a great start.

Well, except for Iwaizumi’s case. He had caught him looking at Oikawa several times, and whenever he acknowledged him, whether it be with a smile or a nod, he would turn his head and keep it down for a few minutes. 

Oikawa could swear the poor lighting made the apples of his cheeks seem darker. 

Despite the stress he had been under, Oikawa would never pass the opportunity to admire the sky. It was breathtaking that night. Whenever Oikawa let Matsukawa look for the stars Irihata had listed, he would simply stare at it, enjoying the beauty and thoroughly terrifying immensity of the dark firmament and the sting of the cold air in his lungs as he breathed it in.

It wasn’t like back home, where the street lamps didn’t rest for a single second and would shine constantly. Here, in the middle of some lost place in the scottish highlands, Oikawa could actually appreciate the stars shining down on him. It was almost as if, if he focused hard enough, he could hear them calling for him, beckoning him closer to join them in their infinite parade of mystery.

Oikawa was soon jolted out of his trance by Professor Irihata’s voice, who was talking about pulsars. He smoothed down his hair, which had probably gotten out of place as his head snapped back, and Matsukawa wordlessly passed him the telescope, amusement glinting in his eyes at his friend’s disgrace.

“Mattsun, stop being such a dick,” Oikawa whispered, sticking his tongue out when the other simply snickered, already turning to tell Hanamaki.

He could feel the blazing hot burn of Iwaizumi’s stare in his nape while he adjusted the telescope’s mount, and Oikawa couldn’t help but wonder how Iwaizumi managed to be so intense with particular things. After all, he had witnessed the way his eyes bore into the paper when drawing, or the sheer amount of willpower when he tried to focus on something before deeming it impossible.

What Oikawa wondered was _why_ Iwaizumi was looking at him like that. He kept pondering, considering various options while tuning out Irihiata once again when it hit him. Despite having been so patient with Oikawa in the dorm discussion, Iwaizumi’s benevolence would soon run thin if people didn’t collaborate. And Oikawa hadn’t precisely made things easier for Iwaizumi to talk to him.

So, as he found Auriga in the sky, Oikawa decided he would gradually interact with Iwaizumi more. Starting with the not so short walk to their dorms.

He kept talking with Hanamaki and managed to get a warning from Irihata because he had stared at Iwaizumi’s face a bit too much when the boy was distracted. This didn’t go unnoticed by Hanamaki and Matsukawa, who would definitely use this as blackmail material given the opportunity.

The class went on, slow but sure, and they were all going down the tower’s stairs shivering and complaining about the weather in hushed voices. Oikawa walked close to Iwaizumi; closer than he had in weeks. Despite Iwaizumi’s façace of nonchalance, he could practically _feel_ the side eyed looks and how he shuffled closer to him almost instinctively. (He could also feel Hanamaki’s and Matsukawa’s stupid snickering, but that’s something he was used to by now.)

It was close to half two in the morning when they got to their room, and Iwaizumi flopped on his bed head down with a low groan.

“Everything okay over there, homie?” Hanamaki called. No reply.

“I think he has died,” Matsukawa said, getting closer to Iwaizumi’s pseudo corpse, presumably to inspect him.

“Leave Iwa-chan alone, Mattsun. And even if he had died, you don’t work in a morgue, so you don’t have permission to bother the dead.” Oikawa was practically done changing his clothes, and sighed deeply when Matsukawa was still poking Iwaizumi’s back. “He’s tired, let him be.”

“He should change his clothes, or he will sleep like utter garbage,” Matsukawa said, looking up at Oikawa, a bushy eyebrow arched.

“Issei has a point,” Hanamaki’s voice drawled from somewhere. Oikawa didn’t bother to look at him, petulantly crossing his arms and sticking his nose up.

“Fine, but none of you are waking him up,” he said, stepping next to Iwaizumi, “your voices would annoy him and that’s the last thing he needs.”

“Wow, fussy, aren’t we?” Hanamaki said, and Oikawa just flipped him off over the shoulder, leaning down to wake his friend. 

“Iwa-chan,” he said, not too sure how low his voice should be, “Iwa-chan, wake up and change your clothes.”

“He has a heavy sleep, you’ll never wake him up like that.”

Oikawa huffed at that and turned to look at his other two friends. “What am I supposed to do, then? Shake him and get punched in the face for that?”

“Why are you being so touchy with Iwaizumi anyways? You just stopped being weird with us today and you haven’t even talked properly with him.” Hanamaki was giving Oikawa a hurt look, and he didn’t like where this was going.

He opened his mouth to retort, but the sound of Iwaizumi stirring cut him off. Iwaizumi was blinking drowsily, and rubbed his face when he was more awake.

“Yo guys, what the fuck?” he said, voice raspy from sleep, despite how brief it had been, “why didn’t you wake me to change my clothes?”

“We were talking about that,” Matsukawa said, eyes shining with a suspicious twinkle, “Oikawa was being far too gentle, but he was scared he would get punched by you in your sleep if he was too rough.”

“I was _not_ scared, Mattsun,” Oikawa yelped, but his defense was cut short when Iwaizumi laughed.

“Is that true, Oikawa?” Iwaizumi said, eyes crinkling with amusement when Oikawa looked away, embarrassment staining his cheeks.

“Everybody shut up,” he snapped, getting under the covers of his bed, “we’ve got training tomorrow and the captain won’t appreciate it if Iwa-chan and I are tired because of your stupidity.”

“Yessir,” Matsukawa cackled, but Oikawa just willed everyone to shut up and let him sleep.

Quidditch training was way more bearable now that he had sort of fixed things with Iwaizumi. They talked like they used to, snickering under their breaths when the captain punished them with extra drills. 

But it was around the middle of practice when he felt lightheaded. 

Oikawa couldn’t remember the time he had gotten a proper meal and a quality sleep, despite desperately trying to do so yesterday night. 

The snitch flashed next to him in a flurry of gold. Normally, he would’ve just caught it with a single hand out of pure muscular reflex, but now he had to chase it a bit before doing so. 

No one really said anything except for the captain, who gave him a wary look. They would normally trust Oikawa, but now that they were about to graduate, they wanted to make sure he would do his job properly.

Once they were done with the drills, a fifth year proposed a mini practice match, and everyone enthusiastically agreed. Well, everyone except Oikawa.

“You okay?” Iwaizumi asked gruffly, eyeing him with concern, “you look pale.”

“My, my, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, “I thought you knew me better. I’m just a bit tired, that’s it. Accumulated stress and whatnot.”

“Yeah, sure.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, scowling deeply. “You better take care of yourself, you look like you’re about to pass out.”

Oikawa was about to reply when the captain’s voice interrupted him, choosing the teams for each one of them. Iwaizumi and him were on the same side, but after a few of their teammates’ lighthearted complaints, he swapped teams.

The practice match was mainly uneventful, snitch nowhere to be seen the majority of the time, but after a nose dive, Oikawa felt the dizziness hit again. He didn’t pay much attention to it, until his grasp on the broom slackened.

He tried to correct it, confused about why he had felt so weak and inattentive lately, and his hearing slowly faded out. When Oikawa noticed it, he collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was the first character arc I’ve sort of written and there’s more to come. writing can be pretty exhausting, but i love how rewarding it is
> 
> as you’ve probably noticed, the style has changed a bit. I’m not experienced writing longer pieces such as this, so there’s probably going to be some inconsistencies. i apologize about that beforehand
> 
> anyways, hope you’ve enjoyed the chapter, kudos and comments are highly appreciated, as always
> 
>   
> [tumblr](http://www.tumblr.com/blog/featherlight-whispers)


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